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BT  701  . D3  1896 
Dawson,  John  William,  1820- 
1899. 

Eden  lost  and  won 


« 


EDEN  LOST  AND  WON 


EDEN 

LOST  AND  WON 


STUDIES  OF  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  AND 
FINAL  DESTINY  OF  MAN  AS  TAUGHT 
IN  NATURE  AND  REVELATION 


SIR  J. 


WILLIAM  DAWSON, 


LI., D.  F.R.S.  Etc 


Author  of  “  The  Story  of  the  Earth"  “  The  Origin  of  the 
World"  “ Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands" 

“  Salient  Points  in  the  Science  of 
the  Earth  ”  etc 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 

1896 


I 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/edenlostwonstudiOOdaws_O 


PREFACE 


HE  time  has  come  when  the  Science  of  the 


Earth  and  of  Man  should  take  bolder 
ground  than  heretofore  on  the  question  of  the 
validity  of  the  literary  and  historical  criticism 
which  deals  so  freely  with  the  earlier  books  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  These  records  present  them¬ 
selves  to  the  student  of  nature  in  special  aspects. 
He  alone  can  fully  appreciate  the  internal  evidence 
which  they  afford  of  antiquity  and  accordance  with 
the  earlier  remains  and  monuments  of  our  species. 
He  alone  can  measure  their  accordance  with 
physical  facts  open  to  observation  in  relation  to 
the  past,  present,  and  future  of  humanity. 

The  field  of  investigation  in  these  directions  is 
already  large  and  promising,  and  is  widening 
every  day ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that,  if 
occupied  by  an  enlightened  natural  science  and  an 


V 


VI 


Pi'eface 


intelligent  and  reverent  study  of  the  Bible,  it  may 
not  only  be  held  against  the  aggressive  forces  of 
agnostic  philosophy  and  destructive  criticism,  but 
may  be  made  to  yield  much  new  evidence  of  the 
beautiful  congruity  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa¬ 
ments,  and  of  both  with  nature  and  with  human 
history.  To  promote  in  some  degree  this  ob¬ 
ject,  so  vital  to  the  progress  of  civilization  and 
the  highest  interests  of  mankind,  is  the  purpose 
of  the  following  papers,  which  originally  appeared 
in  the  Expositor ,  and  are  now  collected,  with 
some  additions  and  amendments. 


September ,  1895. 


J.W.D. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

PHYSICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  PROBABILITIES 
RESPECTING  THE  AUTHORSHIP  AND  AUTHORITY 
OF  THE  MOSAIC  BOOKS 

I 

PAGE 

Introductory  ........  3 


II 

The  Personality  of  Moses . 11 


III 


The  Book  of  Genesis . *35 

IV 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


59 


V 

Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  .  .  .  .81 

vii 


Vlll 


Contents 


VI 

The  Dispersion  and  Abraham 


VII 


The  Exodus 


PART  II 

MAN  AND  NATURE ,  FALLEN  AND 

VIII 

Man  before  the  Fall  ... 


IX 

The  Fall  and  its  Results  . 


X 


PAGE 
.  105 


125 


RESTORED 


•  157 


.  1 77 


The  Restoration 


.  207 


PART  I 

Physical  and  Historical  Probabilities  re¬ 
specting  the  Authorship  and  Authority 
of  the  Mosaic  Books 


OUR  POINT  OF  VIEW 


OTUDENTS  of  nature  who  are  also  Christians, 
^  have  a  special  interest  in  the  pending  contro¬ 
versies  respecting  the  Pentateuch.  The  methods 
of  critical  dissection  now  applied  to  those  books, 
referring  as  they  do  so  much  more  to  minute 
points  of  external  linguistic  form  than  to  sub¬ 
stantial  reality,  necessarily  appear  somewhat 
superficial  and  unscientific  to  men  accustomed 
to  deal  with  certain  or  verifiable  natural  facts, 
while  their  results  are  at  the  best  unsatisfactory. 

Should  they  bring  into  discredit,  even  for  a 
time,  the  testimony  of  the  early  books  of  our 
Bible,  the  consequences  may  be  serious  to  the 
progress  of  science  as  well  as  to  the  higher  in¬ 
terests  of  society  in  general.  To  science  these 
books  have  been  of  inestimable  value,  as  establish¬ 
ing  in  the  popular  mind  a  broad  basis  for  scientific 
work.  Their  distinct  testimony  to  the  unity  of 
nature,  as  the  product  of  one  design,  to  the  unity 


4 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


of  man,  to  the  progressive  development  of  the 
creative  work,  and  to  the  regulation  of  all  things 
by  invariable  law,  has  emancipated  the  human 
mind  from  tendencies  the  most  hostile  to  true 
progress.  From  want  of  this  influence  in  bygone 
times,  and  even  yet  in  certain  places,  the  scientific 
study  of  nature  has  been  hampered  on  the  one 
hand  by  ecclesiastical  bigotry  and  by  pagan 
superstitions,  and  on  the  other  by  popular  dis¬ 
turbances  and  extreme  revolutionary  movements. 
Past  experience  warns  us  that  even  the  present 
generation  may  see  all  science  swept  away  except 
that  which  is  immediately  promotive  of  national 
wealth,  or  of  the  arts  of  defence  and  destruction. 
This  may  happen  either  at  the  hand  of  a  reckless 
democracy  or  of  a  brutal  bigotry  ;  but  it  can  never 
happen  so  long  as  the  Bible  is  a  household  book. 

Another  aspect  of  this  matter  touches  a  higher 
plane  than  that  of  natural  science.  Many  of  the 
more  advanced  Biblical  critics  are  not  ashamed 
to  attribute  fraud  and  even  conspiracy  to  the 
authors  of  the  early  books  of  the  Bible,  and  yet 
these  critics  profess  to  attach  to  these  forged 
documents  a  certain  religious  value.  Such  moral 
obliquity  is  a  two-edged  sword,  cutting  every  way 
against  the  interests  of  society,  and  must  have 
a  potent  influence  in  favour  of  those  causes  of 


Our  Point  of  View 


5 


moral  disintegration  which  science  and  humanity 
have  so  much  reason  to  dread. 

The  reflex  influence  of  these  ideas  on  Christi¬ 
anity  itself  is  also  most  serious.  The  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  constitutes  the  historical  foundation  of 
Christianity,  on  which  Jesus  and  His  disciples 
built  their  whole  system  of  belief,  and  to  the 
genuineness  and  validity  of  which  they  bore  the 
most  decided  testimony.  If  this  foundation  be 
removed,  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles 
may  become  of  as  little  value  as  would  that  of  the 
priests  and  scribes  who  are  alleged  to  have  palmed 
a  fictitious  Deuteronomy  on  good  King  Josiah. 

These  considerations  are  at  least  sufficient  to 
justify  a  close  if  friendly  investigation  and  scrutiny 
of  the  results  of  higher  criticism.  It  may  be  added 
that  the  Bible  is  a  book  full  of  references  to 
natural  facts  and  to  those  problems  relating  to 
the  early  history  of  man  which  belong  to  the 
domain  of  archaeology,  and  that  in  our  time  the 
pick  and  spade  of  the  excavator,  the  measurements 
and  observations  of  the  topographer  and  geologist, 
the  collections  of  the  zoologist  and  botanist,  and 
the  study  of  ancient  monuments  and  inscriptions, 
have  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on  previously  obscure 
portions  of  Holy  Writ. 

The  scientific  worker  may  thus  claim  the  right, 


6 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


however  humbly  and  tentatively,  to  study  for  him¬ 
self  from  his  own  point  of  view  these  ancient 
records,  and  to  place  before  the  world,  at  least  in 
the  form  of  suggestions  for  inquiry,  such  points 
as  strike  his  attention  in  his  reading  of  the  Old 
Testament,  however  trifling  and  unimportant  they 
may  seem  in  the  estimation  of  literary  specialists. 
This,  as  a  student  of  nature  and  the  Bible,  I 
propose  with  all  humility  to  do. 

I  am  not  unaware  of  the  evils  that  threaten 
humanity  from  agnostic  evolution,  and  that  this 
has  been  too  much  fostered  by  scientific  men  ; 
but  the  advanced  evolutionists  and  the  advanced 
critics  have  long  since  united  their  forces,  and 
true  Christianity  and  true  science  are  now  face 
to  face  with  both.  It  is  not  necessary,  how¬ 
ever,  to  take  a  pessimistic  view  of  the  situation. 
The  observation  and  study  of  fifty  years  have 
shown  me  the  rise  and  fall  of  several  systems  of 
philosophy  and  criticism,  and  the  Word  of  God 
still  abides  and  becomes  wider  in  its  influence. 

It  may  be  useful  in  the  first  place  to  define  the 
terms  employed  in  the  heading  of  this  part. 

The  term  physical  may  be  taken  in  the  broad 
sense  of  what  is  termed  physiography,  as  including 
all  natural  facts,  or  facts  relating  to  natural  things ; 
questions,  therefore,  of  geography,  of  physical 


Our  Point  of  View 


7 


features,  and  of  physical  changes  which  may  have 
occurred  in  the  places  referred  to  in  the  Bible.  If, 
for  example,  in  the  narratives  of  Eden,  of  the 
Deluge,  of  the  Exodus,  or  of  the  Cities  of  the 
Plain,  we  find  references  to  natural  conditions, 
existing  at  an  early  date,  which  have  passed  away 
and  have  been  forgotten,  we  may  obtain  indica¬ 
tions  of  the  dates  of  these  narratives  ;  just  as  if,  in 
annals  relating  to  southern  Italy,  we  should  find 
that  the  writer  had  no  knowledge  of  Mount 
Vesuvius,  but  only  of  its  predecessor,  the  tree- 
clad  circle  of  Mount  Somma,  we  should  know 
that  he  had  lived  before  the  year  79  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  might  still  believe  this  even 
if  we  found  in  the  writing  certain  substitutions 
for  obsolete  words,  or  interpolated  notes. 

In  regard  to  archaeology  and  history,  we  may 
have  similar  evidence.  An  event  stated  or  a 
person  referred  to  in  one  record  only,  may  remain 
uncertain,  or  may  be  accepted  with  some  reserve 
on  the  testimony  of  a  single  witness ;  but  a  coin, 
an  inscription  or  a  writing  of  an  independent 
author,  may  at  once  carry  such  event  or  person 
into  the  domain  of  certainty,  and  would  sweep 
away  a  host  of  doubts  that  might  have  been 
conjured  up  by  apparent  inconsistencies  or  defects 
in  the  original  document. 


8 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


In  any  case  it  cannot  be  denied  that  such 
evidence,  whether  physical  or  historical,  deserves 
consideration,  and  this  is  all  that  I  shall  ask ; 
though  for  simplicity  I  may  use,  as  a  working 
hypothesis,  the  supposition  that  the  ancient 
Hebrew  leader  Moses  was  an  actual  personage, 
and  that  he  may  have  written  or  edited  books 
to  which  tradition  has  attached  his  name,  and 
of  certain  portions  of  which  he  is  in  the  docu¬ 
ments  themselves  explicitly  stated  to  have  been 
the  author. 


II 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  MOSES 


II 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  MOSES 
HE  first  of  our  illustrations  may  be  grouped 


around  the  idea  of  the  personality  of  Moses, 
and  will  refer  principally  to  the  Book  of  Genesis 
and  the  earlier  part  of  Exodus. 

We  need  not  attach  much  importance  to  the  ob¬ 
jection  taken  to  the  story  of  the  infancy  of  Moses, 
on  the  ground  that  there  are  other  old  legends  of 
infants  committed  to  the  waters  for  safety.  Even 
if  the  ancient  Assyrian  king  Sargon  had  been 
similarly  preserved  ages  before  Moses,  and  even 
if  Jochebed  had  known  the  tale,  the  only  fair 
inference  would  be  that  it  may  have  given  a  hint 
of  which  she  availed  herself.  But  there  are  in 
the  story  of  Moses  certain  coincidences,  in  the 
nature  of  the  oppression,  the  places  where  the 
Israelites  were  employed,  and  the  two  midwives, 
with  some  recent  discoveries  in  Egypt,  which 
deserve  notice  in  this  connection. 

We  owe  to  the  labours  of  Prof.  Flinders  Petrie  1 


1  Illahun ,  Kahun ,  and  Garofr,  1890. 


11 


12 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


the  excavation  of  a  town  now  called  Kahun,  in 
the  Nile  Valley,  near  the  entrance  to  the  Fayoum. 
It  was  a  temporary  group  of  mud  tenements 
erected  for  the  labourers,  mostly  slaves  and 
captives,  assembled  in  a  gang,  or  what  the  French 
in  modern  Egypt  would  have  termed  a  Corvee 
or  forced  labour,  for  the  erection  of  a  brick 
pyramid  for  Usurtesen  II.,  a  Pharaoh  of  the 
twelfth  dynasty,  and  who  may  have  lived  a 
thousand  years  before  Moses.  Under  the  floors 
of  the  huts  of  these  poor  people  were  found 
numerous  skeletons  of  infants  packed  in  common 
boxes.  Whether  these  babes  died  from  neglect 
and  carelessness,  or  were  purposely  destroyed,  we 
do  not  know  ;  but  in  the  circumstances  the  latter 
is  not  improbable,  and,  if  so,  it  would  afford 
a  more  ancient  instance  of  the  policy  of  the 
Pharaoh  of  the  oppression,  who,  if  he  was  the 
great  Rameses,  had  more  ample  means  than  his 
predecessor  Usurtesen  to  carry  out  forced  labour 
on  a  large  scale.  Prof.  Petrie’s  original  account 
of  the  buried  infants  of  Kahun  is  in  the  following 
graphic  terms  : — “  Many  new-born  infants  were 
found  under  the  floors  of  the  chambers,  and, 
strange  to  say,  usually  in  boxes  which  by  their 
forms  were  made  for  other  purposes.  In  short, 
unlucky  babes  seemed  to  have  been  conveniently 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


13 


put  out  of  the  way  by  stuffing  them  into  a  toilet 
case  or  clothes  box,  and  digging  a  hole  in  the  floor 
for  them.  I  fear  these  discoveries  do  not  reflect 
much  credit  upon  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
small  officials  of  the  twelfth  dynasty.” 

We  read  that  the  Hebrews  were  employed  in 
building  two  store-cities  or  arsenal  fortresses, 
Pithom  and  Rameses.  The  site  of  Pithom,  near 
the  eastern  end  of  the  Wady  Tumilat,  has  been 
definitely  ascertained  by  Naville.  That  of  Rameses 

was  probably  at  the  western  end  of  the  same 

\ 

valley,  where  it  opens  on  the  Delta,  the  distance 
between  the  two  places  being  thus  about  thirty 
miles.  It  would  seem  that  two  gangs  were  em¬ 
ployed  simultaneously  at  these  places,  no  doubt 
lodged  in  mud  huts  and  guarded  by  soldiers  to  pre¬ 
vent  escape.  This  accounts  for  the  two  midwives, 
for  the  Egyptians  were  systematic  even  in  their 
oppressions,  and  there  would  be  an  official  ac¬ 
coucheur  for  each  gang,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to 
save  alive  or  to  destroy  the  children  born  in  the 
Corvee,  as  might  be  directed  from  headquarters. 
Thus  the  whole  proceeding  of  Pharaoh  might  have 
been  in  accordance  with  very  ancient  precedent, 
though  of  a  kind  more  appropriate  to  foreign 
prisoners  than  to  people  like  the  Israelites,  long 
naturalized  in  the  country.  Perhaps  it  was  this 


H 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


circumstance  that  excited  the  compassion  of  the 
midwives,  and  perhaps  it  was  the  gratitude  of  the 
Hebrew  mothers  and  their  friends  that  was  the 
means  employed  by  God  to  “  build  them  houses.” 
These  incidental  points  render  it  probable  that 
Moses  was  born  at  Rameses,  rather  than  at  Pithom, 
as  the  Court  is  more  likely  to  have  been  at  the 
former  place,  and  the  river  of  the  story  was  either 
the  eastern  branch  of  the  Nile  or  the  canal  flowing 
from  it  through  Wady  Tumilat,  the  land  of  Goshen. 
We  may  also  infer  that  Jochebed  and  her  husband 
were  actual  labourers  in  the  Corvee,  and  therefore 
subject  to  all  the  bitterness  of  “  hard  service  ”  to 
which  their  people  were  subjected.  It  is  curious 
also  that  discoveries  published  in  1891  in  respect  to 
another  instance,  far  separated  in  time  and  place, 
now  for  the  first  time  enable  us  fully  to  understand 
these  quaint  incidents,  which  would  not  have 
occurred  to  any  but  a  contemporary  annalist,  and 
are  stated  by  him  as  matters  of  course  without 
a  word  of  comment.  There  could  not  surely  be 
a  better  illustration  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
story.1 

That  a  child  ushered  into  life  in  circumstances 

1  The  reference  to  the  “birth-stools”  in  Exodus  i.  16  is 
another  incidental  touch  of  ancient  Egyptian  rather  than 
Hebrew  customs. 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


15 


so  unfavourable  should  exercise  so  important  an 
influence  in  the  world,  is  in  itself  a  marvel,  or 
would  have  been  so  had  it  not  led  to  his  adoption 
into  the  royal  family  of  Egypt,  and  in  the  palmy 
days  of  the  great  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  probably 
in  the  reign  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
Pharaohs,  Rameses  II.  It  is  true  that  attempts 
have  been  made  to  fix  the  date  differently,  but  the 
recent  discoveries  of  Naville  at  Pithom  seem  defi¬ 
nitely  to  settle  the  date  of  the  building  of  that  city, 
as  in  the  reign  of  the  great  Rameses  ;  and  not  only 
its  inscriptions  but  its  structure,  and  its  bricks, 
some  with  and  some  without  straw,  tally  with  the 
Biblical  account.  Moses  may  thus  be  identified 
with  the  Osarsiph  of  Manetho  (though  some  regard 
this  name  as  belonging  to  Joseph,  or  as  arising 
from  confounding  him  with  Moses,  a  not  unnatural 
mistake),  or  with  the  Arisu  or  Areos  of  the  great 
Harris  papyrus,  names  which  represent  a  Semitic 
leader  of  rebellion  in  the  troubled  times  which  suc¬ 
ceeded  the  reign  of  Rameses  II.  and  closed  the 
nineteenth  dynasty.  This  papyrus,  an  historical 
document  written  in  the  reign  of  Rameses  III., 
testifies  that  at  the  close  of  the  three  or  four  short 
reigns  after  the  great  Rameses,  occupying  in  all 
about  twenty  years,  an  emigration  from  Egypt  took 
place,  and  that  there  was  a  time  of  anarchy,  fol- 


1 6  Eden  Lost  and  Won 


lowed  by  a  new  dynasty  inaugurated  by  the  father 
of  Rameses  III. 

The  Hebrew  and  Egyptian  records  thus  concur 
in  the  fact  that  great  disasters  occurred  at  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  probably  in  the 
reign  of  Siptah,  its  last  king,  the  regency  of  whose 
queen  Ta-user,  and  his  unoccupied  tomb  usurped 
by  a  succeeding  king,  testify  to  his  disastrous  and 
untimely  end.1 

The  first  and  most  important  fact  here  for  our 
present  purpose,  is  that  the  period  to  which  the 
Hebrew  lawgiver  is  thus  assigned  is  that  of  the 
culmination  of  Egyptian  art  and  literature,  and  is 
marked  by  a  similar  degree  of  enlightenment  in 
Babylonia,  Phoenicia,  and  southern  Arabia. 

We  are  only  beginning  to  understand  the  height 
of  civilization  to  which  Egypt  and  other  ancient 
countries  around  the  Mediterranean  had  attained 
even  before  the  time  of  Moses.  Maspero  and 
Tomkins  2  have  illustrated  the  extent  and  accuracy 
of  the  geographical  knowledge  of  the  Egyptians  of 
this  period.  The  latter  closes  a  paper  on  this  sub¬ 
ject  with  the  following  words  :  “  The  Egyptians, 
dwelling  in  their  green,  warm  river-course  and  on 


1  See  as  to  this,  Kellog’s  Stone  Lecture ,  1877. 

2  Papers  on  the  Lists  of  Thothrnes  III.  at  Karnak. 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


17 


the  watered  levels  of  their  Fayoum  and  Delta,  were 
yet  a  very  enterprising  people,  full  of  curiosity, 
literary,  scientific  in  method,  admirable  delineators 
of  nature,  skilled  surveyors,  makers  of  maps,  trained 
and  methodical  administrators  of  domestic  and 
foreign  affairs,  kept  alert  by  the  movements  of  their 
great  river,  and  by  the  necessities  of  commerce, 
which  forced  them  to  the  Syrian  forests  for  their 
building  timber,  and  to  Kush  and  Pun  for  their 
precious  furniture-woods  and  ivory,  to  say  nothing 
of  incense,  aromatics,  cosmetics,  asphalt,  exotic 
plants,  and  pet  and  strange  animals,  with  a  hun¬ 
dred  other  needful  things.”  The  heads  copied  by 
Petrie,  from  Egyptian  tombs,  show  that  the  physi¬ 
cal  features  of  all  the  peoples  inhabiting  the  sur¬ 
rounding  countries  were  well  known  to  them,  as 
well  as  their  manners,  industries,  and  arts.  The 
papers  of  Lockyer1  have  shown  that  long  before 
the  Mosaic  age  the  dwellers  by  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Nile  had  mapped  out  the  heavens,  ascertained 
the  movements  of  the  moon  and  planets,  estab¬ 
lished  the  zodiacal  signs,  discriminated  the  poles 
of  the  ecliptic  and  the  equator,  ascertained  the  laws 
of  eclipses  and  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes, 
and,  in  fact,  had  worked  out  all  the  astronomical 


1  Nature ,  1892-4. 


2 


1 8 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


data  which  can  be  learned  by  observation,  and  had 
applied  them  to  practical  uses.  Lockyer  would 
even  ask  us  to  trace  this  knowledge  as  far  back  as 
6,000  years  B.C.,  or  into  the  post-glacial  or  antedilu¬ 
vian  period  ;  but  however  this  may  be,  astronomy 
was  a  very  old  science  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and  it 
is  quite  unnecessary  to  postulate  a  late  date  for  the 
references  to  the  heavens  in  Genesis  or  in  Job.  In 
geodesy,  and  allied  arts  also,  the  Egyptians  had 
long  before  this  time  attained  to  a  perfection  never 
since  excelled,  so  that  our  best  instruments  can 
detect  no  errors  in  very  old  measurements  and 
levellings.  The  arts  of  architecture,  metallurgy, 
and  weaving  had  attained  to  the  highest  develop¬ 
ment.  Canalization  and  irrigation,  with  their  con¬ 
sequent  agriculture  and  cattle-breeding,  were  old 
and  well-understood  arts ;  and  how  much  of  science 
and  practical  sagacity  is  needed  for  regulating  the 
distribution  of  Nile  water,  any  one  may  learn  who 
will  refer  to  the  reports  of  Sir  Colin  Scott  Moncrieff 
and  his  assistants.  Sculpture  and  painting  in  the 
age  of  Moses  had  attained  their  acme,  and  were 
falling  into  conventional  styles.  Law  and  the  arts 
of  government  had  become  fixed  and  settled. 
Theology  and  morals,  and  the  doctrine  of  rewards 
and  punishments,  had  been  elaborated  into  com¬ 
plex  systems.  Ample  materials  existed  for  history, 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


19 


not  only  in  monuments  and  temple  inscriptions, 
but  in  detailed  writings  on  papyrus.  Egypt  has 
left  a  wealth  of  records  of  this  kind  unsurpassed  by 
any  nation,  and  very  much  of  these  belongs  to  the 
time  before  Moses ;  while,  as  Birch  has  truly  said, 
the  Egyptian  historical  texts  are,  “  in  most  in¬ 
stances,  contemporaneous  with  the  events  they 
record,  and  written  or  executed  under  public  con¬ 
trol.”  There  was  also  abundance  of  poetical  and 
imaginative  literature,  and  treatises  on  medicine 
and  other  useful  arts.  At  the  Court  of  Pharaoh 
correspondence  was  carried  on  with  all  parts  of  the 
civilized  world,  in  many  languages,  and  in  various 
forms  of  writing,  including  that  of  Egypt  itself, 
that  of  Chaldea,  and  probably  also  the  alphabetical 
writing  afterwards  used  by  the  Hebrews,  Phoeni¬ 
cians,  and  Greeks,  but  which  seems  to  have 
originated  at  a  very  early  period  among  the 
Mineans,  or  Punites,  of  south  Arabia.1  Education 
was  carried  on  in  institutions  of  various  grades, 
from  ordinary  schools  to  universities.  In  the  latter, 
we  are  told,  were  professors  or  “  mystery  teachers  ” 
of  Astronomy,  Geography,  Mining,  Theology,  His¬ 
tory,  and  Languages,  as  well  as  many  of  the  higher 
technical  arts.  A  college  song,  of  earlier  date  than 


1  Discoveries  of  Glaser,  summarized  by  Sayce. 


20 


Eden  Lost  and  Jfron 


that  of  Moses,  which  has  been  preserved  to  us,1 
shows  indeed  that  these  higher  institutions  did  not 
condescend  to  the  mere  mechanic  arts,  but  were 
intended  to  prepare  their  students  for  public  life 
and  for  the  more  learned  professions.2 

This  knowledge  was,  of  course,  not  diffused 
among  the  servile  population,  though  even  slaves 
were  sometimes  educated  as  scribes  ;  but  then  we 
are  told  that  Moses  had  the  advantage  of  studying 
in  the  highest  colleges  of  the  country,  and  so  of 
being  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  of  obtaining  access  to  all  the  literary  treasures 
of  the  temple  libraries,  while  he  would  also  have 
the  benefit  of  anv  ancient  lore  in  the  Chaldean 
script  which  Jacob  may  have  brought  from 
Canaan  ;  and  in  his  sojourn  in  Midian  he  might 
have  access  to  the  Minean  letters  and  literature. 
I  may  remark  here,  in  passing,  that  it  would  now 
seem  that  the  language  and  theology  of  the  book  of 
Job  can  be  better  explained  by  supposing  it  to  be 
a  portion  of  Minean  literature  obtained  by  Moses 
in  Midian,  than  in  any  other  way.  This  view  also 


1  “  Records  of  the  Past.55 

2  Heliopolis,  at  which  Moses  was  probably  educated,  is 
now  supposed  to  have  had  a  more  monotheistic  and  purer 
tone  of  theology  than  other  centres  of  Egyptian  education  in 
the  time  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty. 


The  Personality  of  Moses  2 1 

agrees  better  than  any  other  with  its  references 
to  natural  objects,  the  art  of  mining  and  other 
matters. 

We  may  thus  easily  imagine  that  a  man  of 
ability  and  energy,  having  such  opportunities, 
would  be  more  widely  and  deeply  cultivated,  not 
merely  than  his  contemporaries  among  the  Israel¬ 
ites,  but  than  any  other  Hebrew  between  the  time 
of  Rameses  II.  and  that  of  Solomon.  The  literary 
productions  of  such  a  man  are  not  to  be  judged  of 
by  any  arbitrary  theory  of  development  taking 
place  in  a  rude  pastoral  people.  It  is  true 
generally,  though  by  no  means  universally,  that 
rude  nations  do  not  produce  great  literary  works. 
Still  the  exceptions  to  this,  even  in  early  English 
and  Anglo-Saxon  literature,  are  noteworthy.  But 
in  the  case  of  Moses  he  was  intellectually  a  product 
of  the  ripened  civilization  of  Egypt,  naturally  a 
man  of  power  and  genius,  and,  may  we  not  add, 
spiritually  a  man  very  near  to  God.  In  contrast 
with  this,  the  results  of  modern  criticism  of  a  cer¬ 
tain  type  attribute  the  noble  works  which  bear  the 
name  of  Moses  to  unknown  men  living  in  times  of 
comparatively  little  culture,  when  such  writings 
were  little  needed,  and  so  leave  nothing  worthy  of 
Moses  or  of  the  great  and  critical  period  in  which 
he  acted. 


22 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


We  should  not,  however,  adopt  exaggerated 
notions  of  the  supposed  rudeness  of  the  Hebrews  at 
the  time  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan.  The  Book  of 
Exodus  indeed  affords  good  evidence  of  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  an  impulsive  and  ignorant  element  among 
the  emigrants  from  Egypt,  and  forty  years  of 
desert  life,  while  they  might  train  in  endurance  and 
self-denial,  and  perhaps  in  more  pure  and  simple 
manners,  could  not  be  favourable  to  progress  in 
art  and  literature.  It  is  surprising  with  what 
avidity  the  occurrence  at  the  site  of  Lachish  of 
remains  of  rude  huts  overlying  the  ruins  of  the  old 
Amorite  city  has  been  seized  on  by  a  certain  class 
of  writers  as  evidence  of  the  rudeness  of  the  Israel¬ 
ites  in  the  time  of  Joshua.  It  really  indicates 
nothing  of  the  kind.  The  conquering  Israelites 
were  an  army  living  in  tents,  and  probably  in  no 
condition  immediately  to  rebuild  Lachish.  They 
may  have  occupied  its  ruins  with  a  temporary 
garrison  or  may  have  allowed  the  fugitive  Arnor- 
ites  to  return  to  the  old  site.  But  in  either  case 
we  should  expect  the  first  buildings  erected  to  be 
no  better  than  those  found  by  Petrie.  The  fact 
only  marks  the  entire  destruction  of  the  town  and 
the  occupation  of  the  site  by  people  of  few  resources, 
as  would  be  the  case  with  the  Amorites  themselves 
after  the  plunder  and  burning  of  their  city  and  the 
capture  of  their  flocks  and  herds. 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


To  return  to  the  time  of  Moses,  he  may  have 
had  other  sources  of  information  not  accessible  to 
his  Egyptian  fellow-students.  The  discoveries  at 
Tel-Loh  1  and  elsewhere  in  Babylonia,  have  shown 
that  there  existed  in  the  Chaldean  plain,  before  the 
time  of  Abraham,  a  primitive  civilization  equally 
high  with  that  of  the  early  Egyptian  dynasties, 
and,  like  it,  deeply  imbued  with  the  idea  of  per¬ 
petuating  personal  history  and  national  annals. 
The  inscriptions  on  the  statues  of  the  ancient  king 
Gudea  are  remarkable  examples  of  this.  It  is  thus 
in  every  way  probable  that  the  tribe  of  Abraham 
carried  from  the  East  records  in  the  cuneiform 
character  inscribed  either  on  clay  tablets  or  on 
prepared  sheep-skins,  and  these  would  certainly  be 
preserved  and  added  to  in  the  time  of  Joseph,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  very  numerous  biographical 
sketches  which  have  been  obtained  from  Egyptian 
tombs.  Such  Semitic  literature,  if  it  existed,  would 
certainly  be  accessible  to  Moses,  as  well  as  the 
family  traditions  which  he  might  learn  orally  from 
his  mother,  and  it  would  naturally  be  most  inter¬ 
esting  to  him  to  compare  these  with  Egyptian 
history  and  mythology. 

1  By  Sarzac,  noticed  in  “Journal  Society  of  Bib.  Litera¬ 
ture, “  Quarterly  Statement  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,” 
and  “  Records  of  the  Past.” 


24 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Do  not  all  these  considerations  eminently  qualify 
Moses  to  be  the  historian  of  the  primitive  world, 
and  is  it  possible  to  point  to  any  other  name  in 
Hebrew  literature  having  the  same  breadth  of  view 
or  depth  of  information  as  the  royal  scribe  of  the 
nineteenth  dynasty  ?  Would  not  any  writing  of 
his  be  in  advance  of  the  men  of  his  time,  and  would 
it  be  wonderful  if  it  failed  at  first  to  leaven  their 
minds,  and  if  it  should  stand  up  through  the  ages 
as  a  light  towering  above  that  of  all  the  chroniclers 
and  prophets  of  later  times,  whose  minds  were  less 
cultivated  and  more  occupied  with  their  immediate 
surroundings  ?  I  refer  now  to  the  man,  not  to  the 
question  of  his  Divine  inspiration. 

We  may  thus  easily  picture  to  ourselves  the  boy 
Moses,  indoctrinated  by  his  mother,  who  was  also 
his  nurse,  in  the  traditions  of  his  fathers,  in  their 
greatness  in  the  time  of  Joseph,  and  their  cruel 
bondage  under  the  existing  government ;  and  no 
doubt  taught  also  their  simple  ancestral  faith,  so 
different  from  the  complex  polytheism  of  Egypt. 
With  these  feelings  strong  within  him  he  enters 
the  schools  and  colleges  of  Egypt,  and  as  he  drinks 
in  the  learning  of  that  wonderful  land,  compares  it 
with  what  he  has  learned  in  his  maternal  home. 
Later  he  regards  the  whole  matter  in  a  practical 
light,  and  thinks  that  by  his  hand  his  people  may 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


25 


be  freed.  He  finds  them  unprepared  ;  but,  as  an 
exile  and  an  older  and  wiser  man,  believes  himself 
the  commissioned  agent  of  God  for  their  deliver¬ 
ance,  but,  chastened  by  experience  and  by  the 
Divine  spirit,  prepares  to  teach  them  in  a  plain  and 
popular  form  those  rudiments  of  history  and  those 
prophetic  destinies  which  he  has  so  long  and  pain¬ 
fully  studied,  along  with  that  better  and  purer  faith 
which  had  sustained  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  in 
their  long  and  eventful  lives.  Hence,  according  to 
a  theory  which  seems  to  agree  with  all  historical 
facts  and  to  be  thoroughly  consistent  in  itself,  arose 
the  Book  of  Genesis. 

We  have  considered  the  personality  of  Moses 
and  his  environment  in  Egypt  with  reference  to 
the  probable  nature  of  his  literary  productions  : 
but  another  element  enters  into  the  question.  The 
task  assigned  to  him  was  the  liberation  of  a  nation 
of  serfs  and  their  transference  to  a  new  region, 
physically  different  from  that  in  which  they  had 
been  born  and  nurtured.  In  connection  with  this 
he  had  to  provide  for  them  a  new  religion,  and  a 
political  and  social  organization  different  from  that 
of  their  Egyptian  lords ;  or,  rather,  he  had  to 
revise  and  modernize  old  institutions  and  to  develop 
them  into  a  system  suitable  to  the  changed  condi¬ 
tions  of  the  people.  To  succeed  in  this  it  was 


2  6 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


necessary  to  arouse  a  religious  enthusiasm  sufficient 
to  cause  the  Israelites  to  break  entirely  with  Egypt 
and  enter  into  a  new  life.  In  later  times  we  have 
seen  something  similar  effected  on  a  far  lower 
plane,  in  the  great  uprising  of  the  Arabian  tribes 
under  Mohammed.  What  the  Koran  was  to  the 
Arabs  the  Book  of  Genesis  may  have  been  to  the 
Israelites.  Without  any  elaborate  argument,  but 
by  a  series  of  simple  statements,  it  erected  a  mono¬ 
theistic  religion  and  converted  into  creatures  of  the 
one  God  all  the  objects  which  the  heathen  are  wont 
to  worship,  and  reduced  to  merely  human  forms 
heroes  and  demigods.  It  then  asserted  the  Divine 
commission  and  promises  given  to  Abraham  and 
the  patriarchs,  and  exalted  them  as  the  chosen 
friends  of  God,  and  the  fathers  of  a  peculiar  people. 
It  thus  stirred  up  the  people  with  the  enthusiasm 
of  a  new  and  pure  religion,  with  the  memories  of 
former  greatness,  and  with  the  promise  of  a  great 
and  glorious  victory  over  their  oppressors  and  the 
hope  of  a  new  and  better  country.  It  placed  the 
original  relations  of  the  Israelites  and  Egyptians 
on  the  historic  and  memorable  standpoint  of  the 
administration  of  Joseph.  Could  anything  have 
been  better  fitted  for  the  then  existing  crisis  of  the 
national  affairs  of  the  Hebrews,  or  more  likely  to 
lead  to  the  practical  facts  of  the  Exodus  and  the 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


27 


conquest  of  Canaan?  Was  there  ever  a  time  in 
the  history  of  the  people  when  such  a  book  was  so 
likely  to  have  been  produced  ?  Thus  Genesis 
stands  before  us  a  great  and  masterful  politico- 
religious  tract  for  the  time  of  Moses  and  the  mis¬ 
sion  he  had  to  fulfil,  and  fits  into  no  other  place 
in  the  Hebrew  history.  If  it  has  outlasted  its 
immediate  occasion  and  has  become  the  foundation 
of  the  religion  not  only  of  Israel  but  of  the  whole 
world,  the  lower  reason  may  be  found  in  its  won¬ 
derful  power  combined  with  childlike  simplicity, 
and  in  that  world-embracing  scope  which  provides 
for  the  blessing  of  all  nations  ;  the  higher  reason 
in  the  Divine  wisdom  bestowed  by  God  on  His 
servant  Moses,  who,  more  than  any  other  Hebrew 
prophet,  was  like  unto  the  heaven-descended  Son 
of  man  whose  advent  he  foresaw. 

But  the  personality  of  Moses  appears  in  the 
Pentateuch  in  another  way,  much  as  that  of  Julius 
Caesar  appears  in  his  Commentaries.  There  is  no 
formal  biography  or  laboured  eulogy,  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  later  and  inferior 
men,  but  a  gradual  development  of  character, 
appearing  incidentally,  here  and  there,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end.  He  appears  first  as  an 
educated  man,  in  the  prime  of  life,  strong  and  self- 
reliant,  and  fired  with  an  ambition  to  be  the 


2  8 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


deliverer  of  his  people.  Failing  in  the  rash  and 
impulsive  attempt,  he  sinks  into  an  obscure  and 
quiet  life  in  pastoral  Midian,  which  may,  however, 
have  been  a  time  of  thought  and  study,  and  of 
learning  in  that  ancient  literature  at  the  time 
existing  in  Arabia.  Roused  from  inactivity  by  the 
vision  of  the  burning  bush,  he  is  now  diffident  and 
full  of  distrust  of  himself,  strongly  impressed  with 
the  difficulty  of  his  great  mission,  and  scarcely 
reassured  by  the  promise  of  Divine  support.  As 
he  enters  on  his  work  we  find  him  bold  and  resolute 
in  the  presence  of  the  new  Pharaoh,  to  whom  he 
must  have  appeared  almost  as  the  apparition  or 
“Ka”  of  a  royal  prince  of  the  last  generation,  raised 
again  from  the  dead  ;  but  in  presence  of  his  own 
people  depressed  and  bowed  down  by  their  unbelief 
and  timidity,  and  constantly  retiring  from  the  king’s 
obstinacy  and  the  people’s  fears  to  the  presence  of 
God,  from  which  he  returns  with  renewed  strength. 
It  has  been  well  said  of  him  that  to  the  people 
he  was  all  God,  to  God  nothing  but  the  people  ; 
his  own  person  and  interests  were  nowhere.  This 
grand  self-abnegation  appears  through  all  his  life, 
in  the  patience,  forbearance,  and  kindness  with 
which  he  led  Israel  like  a  flock,  and  in  his  willing¬ 
ness  that  he  himself  should  perish  if  Israel  thereby 
could  be  saved.  Even  the  sad  and  pitiful  visitation 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


29 


of  his  one  sin  of  temper  at  Meribah  by  exclusion 
from  the  promised  land,  while  a  confession  of 
infirmity,  is  a  testimony  to  the  high  moral  plane 
on  which  he  moved. 

The  law  which  he  is  said  to  have  given  is  in 
harmony  with  the  man.  It  has  of  late  been 
customary  to  speak  of  the  harsh  and  cruel  edicts 
of  the  law  of  Moses  as  unworthy  of  God.  But 
what  of  the  lofty  morality  of  the  decalogue,  the 
merciful  provisions  for  the  poor,  for  strangers  and 
for  domestic  animals  ;  of  the  social  and  sanitary 
provisions  which,  according  to  recent  statistics, 
still  give  the  people  who  practise  them  an  advan¬ 
tage  in  the  struggle  for  existence  over  the  people 
of  the  most  civilized  Gentile  nations?  Jesus 
Himself  is  here  the  best  apologist  for  Moses,  when 
He  says  of  one  of  these  laws,  “  It  was  because  of 
the  hardness  of  your  hearts  ” — because  they  were 
not  fit  for  better.  In  the  case  of  that  very  law, 
that  of  divorce,  the  frightful  laxity  that  has  crept 
into  some  modern  nations  shows  that  they  also 
are  unfit  as  yet  for  the  better  law  of  Christianity. 
It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  refer  to  the  Lex  talionis , 
the  law  of  slavery  and  other  enactments  tending 
to  limit  evils  which  could  not  be  altogether 
removed. 

The  end  of  Moses  in  the  Pentateuch  is  unique, 


\ 


30  Eden  Lost  and  Won 

like  his  life.  Excluded  from  the  long  wished-for 
Canaan,  he  sings,  beyond  Jordan,  that  glorious 
death-song,  the  poem  of  all  the  ages  down  to  the 
time  when  Christ  shall  bring  into  His  rest  the  last 
sufferer  from  the  persecutions  of  this  evil  world. 
After  this  last  utterance,  which  even  the  hardest 
of  the  critics  are  scarcely  disposed  wholly  to  wrest 
from  him,  he  sinks  into  that  mysterious  burial 
whence  no  relic- worshipper  can  extract  any  shred 
for  superstitious  veneration,  and  in  connection  with 
which  no  one  can  establish  a  shrine  or  place  of 
pilgrimage. 

Can  it  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  such  a 
career  could  have  been  imagined  or  patched  to¬ 
gether  by  Shaphan  the  scribe,  or  Hilkiah  the  high 
priest,  or  later  and  more  obscure  writers,  especially 
if  they  were  men  of  the  moral  character  attributed 
to  them  by  critics?  The  argument  here  is  of  the 
same  character  with  that  which  convinced  John 
Stuart  Mill  that  there  must  be  a  foundation  of 
contemporaneous  history  underlying  the  life  of 
Christ  in  the  Gospels. 

Two  objections  have  been  taken  to  this  argu¬ 
ment.  One  is,  that  in  the  life  of  Moses  there  are 
many  miracles,  and  that  these  prove  a  mythical 
element  and  later  origin.  Modern  science  has, 
however,  removed  the  old  objections  to  miracles 


The  Personality  of  Moses 


which  used  to  be  discussed  by  metaphysicians 
and  theologians  ;  and  a  special  consideration  of 
those  attributed  to  Moses  shows,  as  we  may  see 
in  the  sequel,  that  they  come  within  the  range  of 
physical  possibility. 

Another  is,  that  while  the  Egyptian  theology 
dealt  largely  and  very  precisely  with  a  future  life 
and  resurrection,  these  elements  do  not  appear  in 
the  teaching  of  Moses.  Jesus,  however,  here  is 
again  the  apologist  of  Moses,  and  shows  that  the 
belief  in  immortality  and  a  future  state  is  implied 
even  in  referring  to  God  as  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob.1  Still  the  doctrine  of  immediate 
retribution  prevails  in  the  Mosaic  teaching.  This, 
on  the  theory  of  Mosaic  authorship,  may  be  at¬ 
tributed  to  two  reasons  :  one  of  a  lower,  and  the 
other  of  a  higher  order.  The  Egyptian  doctrine 
of  a  future  life,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  had  de¬ 
generated  into  a  system  of  priestly  absolution, 
which  he  seems  to  have  been  determined  to 
discountenance  as  an  abuse.  Besides  this,  it 
appears  to  be  implied  in  the  Mosaic  system  that  all 
Israel,  as  chosen  of  God  and  as  professing  faith 
in  Him,  is  a  holy  people  whose  future  happiness 
is  guaranteed,  but  who  are,  nevertheless,  subjects 


\ 


Matt.  xxii.  32. 


32 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


of  Divine  chastisement  in  this  life.  This  is  in 
some  sense  Christian  doctrine  as  well.  The 
Christian  may  believe  his  future  inheritance  sure, 
yet  he  knows  that  “  whom  God  loveth  He  chasten- 
eth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth.” 
This  is  the  kind  of  faith  by  which,  in  all  ages, 
martyrs  have  been  animated ;  and  as  we  see  in  the 
New  Testament  itself,  such  faith  is  less  likely  to 
expatiate  on  pictures  of  heavenly  bliss  than  to  be 
occupied  with  the  stern  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  the  present.  Such  faith  would  be  appropriate 
to  the  Mosaic  age  rather  than  to  later  times. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  a  new  religion, 
arising  in  Egypt,  would,  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  critic  or  that  of  the  “  natural  man,”  be  likely 
to  conform  to  Egyptian  usages,  especially  in 
externals,  while  we  should  expect  very  strong 
contrasts  in  point  of  doctrine.  Thus  these 
peculiarities  in  the  Mosaic  religion  agree  with  its 
probable  origin  in  the  time  and  place  assigned  to 
it,  and  not  in  any  later  period,  when  the  Jews 
were  more  in  contact  with  the  nations  of  Asia. 

The  manner  in  which  the  writer  of  Genesis 
deals  with  the  material  at  his  disposal,  demands 
a  separate  consideration. 


/ 


III 

THE  BOOK  OF  GENESIS 


3 


Ill 

THE  BOOK  OF  GENESIS 

REFERENCE  has  been  made  in  the  preceding 
article  to  the  following  points  : — 

I.  That  no  Hebrew  writer  down  to  the  time  of 
Solomon,  or  perhaps  even  to  that  of  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  Greek  literature  into  the  East,  could 
have  had  so  ample  means  for  writing  the  early 
history  of  the  world  as  those  possessed  by  Moses, 
when  regarded  as  a  Hebrew  imbued  with  the 
culture  of  the  great  civilized  Egypt  of  the  nine¬ 
teenth  dynasty. 

2.  That  at  this  period  the  Egyptians  were  most 
zealous  in  the  preservation  of  historical  facts,  and 
were  in  possession  of  vast  stores  of  information 
available  for  historical  literature. 

3.  That  it  is  in  every  way  probable  that  there 
existed,  up  to  the  time  of  Moses,  ancient  docu¬ 
ments  of  Hebrew  history,  extending  from  the 
time  when  Abraham  departed  from  the,  at  that 

time,  learned  and  literary  region  of  Chaldea,  and 

35 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


36 

that  such  documents  were  probably  more  access¬ 
ible  in  the  time  of  Moses  than  at  any  later  period. 

4.  That  the  crisis  of  the  affairs  of  Israel  in  the 
time  of  Moses  demanded  just  such  a  compendium 
of  the  history  of  the  race  as  is  found  in  Genesis ; 
and  that  such  a  book  was  a  necessary  factor  in  the 
history  of  the  Exodus  and  the  subsequent  events. 

5.  That  the  personality  of  Moses,  as  developed 
in  the  following  history,  testifies  to  a  truthful  por¬ 
traiture,  which  could  not  have  been  produced  by 
obscure  writers  living  at  a  later  date. 

6.  That  Genesis  thus  stands  appropriately  at  the 
birth  of  the  Israelitish  nation,  and  is  related  to  it 
in  the  manner  of  cause  and  effect,  while  there  is  no 
other  period  in  the  history  of  the  chosen  people  to 
which  it  would  have  been  so  suitable. 

Centering  these  considerations  in  the  personalfty 
of  Moses,  we  have  found  a  natural  adaptation  to 
time  and  place,  and  a  congruity  of  the  literature 
with  the  actual  history  which  afford  strong  evi¬ 
dence  of  contemporaneity  and  truthfulness.  We 
may  now  proceed  to  consider  the  materials  of 
Genesis,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  were  used 
on  the  supposition  that  Moses  was  the  author  or 
editor  of  the  book. 

The  Book  of  Genesis  relates  altogether  to  time 
anterior  to  that  of  Moses.  This  lapse  of  time  may 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


37 


be  divided  into  three  periods  of  very  unequal 
length,  which  are  treated  in  somewhat  different 
ways,  though  these  are  subordinate  to  the  con¬ 
tinuous  and  homogeneous  character  of  the  history, 
which,  beginning  with  matters  relating  to  mankind 
in  general,  gradually  and  by  successive  stages 
concentrates  itself  on  the  interests  of  Israel  alone. 

The  first  portion  relates  to  the  Creation,  the 
antediluvian  world,  and  the  deluge.  It  has  no 
connection  with  Egypt  or  Palestine,  and,  in  so 
far  as  it  has  any  local  colouring,  this  belongs  to 
that  Euphratean  region  from  which  the  father  of 
the  faithful  is  alleged  to  have  emigrated. 

The  second  part  extends  from  the  call  of 
Abraham  to  the  time  of  Joseph,  and  is  early 
Palestinian  in  its  geographical  and  historical  re¬ 
lations.  In  these  respects  it  is  even  more  primi¬ 
tive  than  the  time  of  Moses,  and  if  not  based  on 
contemporary  documents  must  have  been  written 
by  some  one  having  a  rare  gift  of  throwing  his 
vision  back  into  times  anterior  to  his  own.  In  so 
far  as  Moses  is  concerned,  it  is  not  likely  that  he 
had  previous  knowledge  of  Palestine,  but  he  must 
have  been  familiar  with  Egyptian  literature  re¬ 
lating  to  it,  and  he  must  often  have  met  with 
people  of  Canaan,  and  with  Egyptian  officers  who 
had  travelled  in  the  country.  He  must,  therefore, 


38 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


have  possessed  sufficient  knowledge  to  edit  docu¬ 
ments  relating  to  Palestine,  and  to  understand  the 
geographical  and  tribal  relations  with  which  such 
historical  documents  were  concerned. 

The  third  portion  of  the  book,  relating  to  Jacob 
and  Joseph,  is  almost  wholly  Egyptian  in  its 
scenery  and  colouring,  and  its  conditions  must 
have  been  perfectly  familiar  to  Moses,  especially 
if,  as  now  supposed,  the  administration  of  Joseph 
was  not  under  one  of  the  foreign  kings  of  the 
Hyksos  race,  but  under  one  of  the  greatest  native 
sovereigns,  Thothmes  III.  The  treatment  of  this 
part  of  Genesis  bespeaks  a  writer  thoroughly  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  Egypt  of  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  dynasties. 

The  first  of  these  three  sections  covers  a  vast 
lapse  of  time — three  thousand  years,  or  probably, 
more,  of  human  history,  besides  the  unmeasured 
geological  periods  before  man  appeared.  The 
second  and  third  extend  over  only  the  430  years 
which,  according  to  the  Hebrew  chronology,  inter¬ 
vened  between  the  entry  of  Abraham  into  Canaan 
and  the  Exodus. 

If  these  three  portions  of  Genesis  were  compiled 
by  Moses  from  documents  of  various  dates,  the 
greater  part  of  this  material  must  have  been  ob¬ 
tained  from  Hebrew  rather  than  from  Egyptian 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


39 


sources.  No  doubt  the  Heptarchy  of  the  Great 
Gods  of  Egypt  is  analogous  to  the  seven  creative 
days,  and  may  have  been  so  understood  in  the 
esoteric  learning  of  the  Egyptian  priests.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  also  that  the  Horshesu,  or 
mythical  children  of  Horus,  represent  the  ante¬ 
diluvian  patriarchs  of  Moses  and  the  Chaldean 
legends.  Not  improbably,  also,  there  may  have 
been  Egyptian  narratives  of  the  visit  of  Abraham 
and  his  tribe,  of  the  immigration  of  Jacob,  and  of 
the  rule  of  Joseph.  There  must,  however,  have 
been  records  of  the  Abrahamidae  themselves  ;  and 
Egyptian  precedents  would  authorize  us  to  believe 
that  such  documents  would  be  scrupulously  cared 
for,  and  would,  probably,  be  deposited  with  the 
mummy  of  Joseph,  either  in  some  tribal  tomb  or 
sanctuary,  or  in  the  house  of  his  descendants. 

Supposing  such  materials  to  be  accessible  to 
Moses,  and  that  it  was  part  of  his  Divine  mission 
to  use  them  for  the  instruction  and  deliverance 
of  his  people,  we  should  suppose  that  his  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  different  documents  might  be  some¬ 
what  varied. 

In  the  case  of  the  first  and  second  sections,  the 
material  might  consist  in  part  of  definite  and 
specially  arranged  statements  of  great  antiquity, 
like  those  of  the  creation  and  the  deluge,  in  part 


40 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


of  toledoth,  or  genealogical  lists,  and  in  part  of 
biographical  and  historical  annals. 

The  two  former  classes  of  material  a  conscien¬ 
tious  editor  would  leave  untouched,  except  perhaps 
to  add  a  few  explanatory  notes  or  to  modernize 
archaic  expressions.  The  third  or  narrative  ma¬ 
terial  he  might  treat  with  a  freer  hand,  and  might 
even  re-write  in  the  style  of  his  own  time.  We 
should  thus  have,  in  the  earlier  parts  of  Genesis, 
a  twofold  structure,  consisting,  in  the  first  place, 
of  ancient  documents,  written,  perhaps,  by  different 
hands,  at  widely  different  times  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
modernized  and  freer  biographical  and  historical 
sketches  interwoven  with  the  older  material,  though 
perhaps  occasionally  including  sections  of  older 
documents  unchanged.  It  is  thus  quite  unneces¬ 
sary  to  imagine  any  later  editor  than  Moses,  in 
order  to  account  for  those  diversities  of  style  and 
treatment  which  have  caused  critics  to  postulate 
several  authors  and  redactors. 

Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  found  this  aspect 
of  the  case  very  clearly  stated  by  Prof.  Green,  of 
Princeton. 

He  says  : 

“The  difference  of  diction  in  different  sections  of  the 
Pentateuch  is  largely  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  diversity  of 
theme  or  of  the  character  of  the  composition.  The  critics 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


4i 


claim  that  what  they  call  the  document  P  is  clearly  dis¬ 
tinguishable  from  J  E  in  point  of  language.  Now,  to  P 
they  assign  genealogies,  dates,  legal  sections,  and  such 
grand,  world-wide  events  as  the  creation  and  the  deluge  ; 
but,  as  a  rule,  all  narratives  in  the  sphere  of  individual  life 
are  given  to  J  E,  only  mere  snatches  from  them,  such  as 
a  few  disjointed  sentences  or  summary  paragraphs,  being 
allowed  to  P.  It  is  obvious  that  a  division  of  this  sort  must 
necessarily  result  in  a  diversity  of  diction.  Words  are  signs 
of  thought,  and  where  the  lines  of  thought  are  distinct  so 
must  the  diction  be.  Words  and  phrases  in  constant  use  in 
ordinary  narrative  have  no  place  in  genealogies  and  ritual 
laws  ;  and,  vice  versa ,  the  peculiarity  of  the  diction  of  the 
former  is  not  to  be  expected  in  the  latter.”  ( See  note. ) 

This  is  simply  common  sense  and  natural  prob¬ 
ability,  and  it  goes  farther  than  the  contention 
above,  since  it  shows  that  even  if  there  were  no 
previous  documents,  differences  might  be  expected 
between  technical  lists  and  detailed  biographies. 
I  quote  it  also  to  show  that  some  writers  on  these 
subjects  think  it  worth  while  to  descend  from  the 
pinnacle  of  the  higher  criticism  and  to  inquire  as 
to  those  probabilities  which  arise  from  the  con¬ 
stitution  of  mind  and  its  implements. 

The  latter  part  of  Genesis,  relating  to  the  closing 
years  of  the  life  of  Jacob  and  to  that  of  Joseph,  we 
may  suppose  to  be  wholly  of  Mosaic  authorship, 
and  in  the  best  style  of  the  Hebrew  prophet,  un¬ 
less  indeed  he  found  ready  to  his  hand  a  version 
of  this  beautiful  story  written  by  Joseph  himself, 


42 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


or  by  some  pious  and  able  scribe  under  his  direc¬ 
tion.  Either  view  would  suffice  to  account  for  the 
minute  acquaintance  with  Egyptian  manners  and 
customs  at  the  date  referred  to,  and  the  literary 
similarity  of  the  style  to  that  of  Egyptian  writers 
of  the  period  ;  and  which,  by  a  far-fetched  and 
most  improbable  conjecture,  has  been  supposed 
to  have  furnished  later  writers  with  the  materials 
of  this  marvellous  history. 

This  later  portion  of  the  book  is  separated  from 
the  earlier  by  the  introduction  of  the  Edom¬ 
ites  in  chapter  xxxvi.,  which  forms  a  sort  of 
appendix  to  the  previous  history,  and  may  have 
been  brought  in  partly  because  the  Edomites  were 
the  most  closely  related  of  the  other  Hebrew  races 
to  the  Israelites,  because  they  had  at  this  time 
very  intimate  relations  with  Egypt,  and  because 
they  had  already  definitely  separated  themselves 
from  Israel  and  had  become  a  part  of  the  heathen 
world.  We  shall  see  in  the  sequel  that  the  neglect 
of  this  genealogy,  and  the  failure  to  recognise  the 
fact  that  the  Edomites  and  other  nations  de¬ 
scended  from  Abraham  and  Lot  were  Hebrews 
as  well  as  the  Israelites,  has  led  some  Egypto¬ 
logists  into  amusing  errors.  All  those  tribes 
which  sprang  from  “  Abraham  the  Hebrew  ”  were 
Hebrews  or  “  Aperiu  ”  in  the  classification  of  the 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


43 


Egyptians,  who  well  knew  their  kinship  in  features, 
language,  and  customs,  as  a  part  of  the  multi¬ 
tudinous  Asiatic  races  known  as  “  Amu  ”  in  their 
ethnology. 

These  preliminaries  having  been  settled,  we  are 
now  in  a  position  to  glance  at  some  of  the  physical 
and  archaeological  characteristics  of  the  earlier  part 
of  Genesis.  Some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  earliest 
Mosaic  document,  that  of  the  seven  creative  days, 
I  have  already  discussed  in  previous  publications,1 
to  which  I  may  refer,  but  our  present  inquiry  leads 
us  to  consider  certain  of  its  other  features. 

The  theological  purpose  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  too  obvious  to  require  any  remark, 
except  to  note  the  thorough  manner  in  which  it 
relegates  to  the  creative  power  of  the  one  true 
God  all  the  natural  powers  and  objects  which 
entered  into  the  complicated  polytheism  of  Egypt 
and  other  ancient  nations,  and  the  skill  with  which 
it  founds  this  on  the  unanswerable  proposition  that 
the  universe  is  not  eternal  or  fortuitous  or  self- 
made,  but  a  product  of  a  divine  First  Cause.  To 
secure  fully,  however,  this  theological  end,  it  was 
necessary  to  deal  with  physical  facts  and  laws,  and 


1  Expositor ,  vol.  iii.,  April,  1886,  p.  284;  see  also  “The 
Origin  of  the  World.” 


44 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


with  an  order  of  development  of  the  cosmos,  which 
is  here  divided  into  seven  stages,  the  last  of  these 
being  used  as  the  foundation  of  the  Sabbath.  So 
exactly  does  this  arrangement  fit  in  with  the 
requirements  of  that  fourth  commandment  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  whole  religion  of 
Israel,  as  based  on  the  hope  of  a  Redeemer,  and 
which  consequently  figures  as  the  sole  ritual 
observance  included  in  the  moral  law,  that  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  some  have  alleged  that  the  seven 
creative  days  are  an  after-thought  intended  to 
support  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  Fortu¬ 
nately  for  the  credit  of  Moses,  we  now  know  that 
the  story  of  creation  and  the  week  of  seven  days, 
and  the  pre-eminence  of  the  seventh  day,  existed 
long  before  his  time.  It  is  not  Egypt,  but  Chaldea, 
the  native  country  of  Abraham,  that  has  furnished 
this  evidence  in  the  now  well-known  creation 
tablets  disinterred  from  the  ruins  of  the  royal 
library  of  Assurbanipal,  king  of  Assyria.  They 
show  that  in  the  most  primitive  times  a  story  of 
creation  similar  to  that  in  Genesis,  but  more  diffuse 
and  polytheistic  in  its  theology,  existed  in  Chaldea. 
It  is  thus  rendered  in  the  highest  degree  probable 
that  this  legend  in  some  form  was  a  part  of  the 
mental  furniture  of  Abraham  and  his  tribe,  before 
they  left  their  primitive  home.  Assurbanipal,  the 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


45 


royal  collector  of  these  records,  it  is  true,  lived 
about  673  B.C.,  but  the  scribe  who  edited  them 
informs  us  that  they  are  of  much  earlier  date,  and 
not  so  much  Assyrian  as  early  Chaldean,  or 
Akkadian,  being  probably  as  old  as  1,600  years 
before  the  time  of  the  Assyrian  collector. 

A  remarkable  confirmation  of  their  antiquity 
also  reaches  us  from  the  West  The  sacred  book 
of  the  Quiche  Indians  of  Central  America,  origin¬ 
ally  translated  by  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  and  more 
recently  referred  to  by  Bancroft  in  his  “  Native 
Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,”  1  contains  a  creation- 
legend  in  many  respects  similar  to  that  of  Chal¬ 
dea.  It  would  thus  seem  that  in  the  early  dawn 
of  human  history  before  the  people  of  Asia  and 
those  of  America  had  separated,  the  story  of 
creation  was  known. 

In  face  of  such  facts,  it  is  idle  to  suppose  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  creative  week  came  to  the 
Jews  from  late  intercourse  with  Assyria.  In  that 
case  it  would  have  appeared  in  a  different  form, 
even  if  purified  of  its  polytheism  ;  for  the  later 
Assyrians,  though  they  had  a  week  of  seven  days, 
and  regarded  the  seventh  day  as  sacred  in  the 
sense  of  being  an  unlucky  day  for  secular  work, 


1  Vol.  iii. 


46 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


do  not  seem  to  have  connected  this  with  the 
creation,  so  much  as  with  the  sun  and  moon  and 
the  five  planets  known  to  them,  as  our  own  Saxon 
forefathers  also  did. 

If,  again,  we  compare  the  simple  and  sublime 
form  in  which  the  creative  days  appear  in  Genesis, 
with  the  more  turgid  and  diffuse  guise  in  which 
they  are  embodied  in  the  Chaldean  or  Akkadian 
tablets,  we  need  not  doubt  as  to  the  relative 
antiquity  of  their  sources.  We  can  imagine  a 
simple,  concise,  monotheistic  account  to  have  been 
the  nucleus  of  a  padded-out  polytheistic  story 
like  that  of  the  Chaldean  priests.  We  can  also 
imagine  a  terse  rhythmical  version  easily  com¬ 
mitted  to  memory  to  have  appertained  to  simple 
primitive  folk,  while  an  enlarged  and  ornate  form 
may  have  been  better  suited  to  a  temple  liturgy 
in  honour  of  a  pantheon  of  deities.  We  can 
readily  suppose  a  simple  record  of  creation  to 
have  been  communicated  perhaps  in  a  vision  of 
six  days  to  some  inspired  seer  of  early  times,  but 
cannot  suppose  this  in  the  case  of  a  complicated 
and  idolatrous  version. 

Further,  the  Chaldean  tablets  bear  witness  to 
their  own  secondary  character,  for  while  they  take 
us  back  to  a  time  when  Tiamat,  the  abyss  or 
“  deep,”  alone  existed,  they  admit  that  at  this  time 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


47 


“  the  gods  had  not  sprung  up  any  one  of  them,” 
and  “the  great  gods  also  were  made.”  These 
gods  are,  indeed,  elemental  beings,  corresponding 
to  the  firmament,  the  stars  and  other  things  which 
appear  merely  as  physical  objects  in  Genesis. 
Bel  or  Belus  seems  to  be  the  only  exception,  and 
to  be  a  sort  of  demiurgus,  the  medium  between 
the  Creator  and  His  work,  and  corresponding  to 
the  Almighty  Word  in  Genesis. 

Thus  we  have  as  the  result  of  this  comparison, 
that  while  we  must  recognise  the  Hebrew  account 
as  the  more  primitive  of  the  two,  we  must  also 
recognise  it  as  the  better  and  more  scientific.  On 
arriving  at  such  a  conclusion  we  can  scarcely  avoid 
a  feeling  of  awe  and  reverence  for  this  early  monu¬ 
ment  at  once  of  human  reason  and  Divine  revela¬ 
tion. 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  discuss  the  ques¬ 
tion  whether  or  not  the  days  of  creation  represent 
long  periods  of  time,  since  it  is  only  on  that  sup¬ 
position  that  they  admit  of  any  comparison  with 
natural  facts,  or  would  even  in  any  natural  sense 
be  comprehensible  in  themselves.  Further,  these 
are  obviously  days  not  of  man,  nor  even  astronomi¬ 
cal  days,  but  days  of  God  ;  and  the  last,  or  seventh 
day,  is  allowed  to  run  on  indefinitely  without  any 
termination.  This  view  is  held  by  Jesus  in  the 


48 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Gospels,  when  in  arguing  with  the  Jews  about  the 
Sabbath  He  says,  “  My  Father  worketh  until 
now.”  It  is  also  the  view  of  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  when  he  speaks  of  man’s 
failure  to  enter  into  God’s  Sabbath,  of  Christ’s 
entering  into  His  sabbatism,  and  of  that  sabbatism 
which  “  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.”  It  is 
thus  evident  that  Jesus,  the  Jews  of  His  time,  and 
the  early  Christians  had  no  difficulty  in  believing 
that  the  creative  days  represent  aeons  or  days  of 
God,  and  this,  of  course,  without  any  idea  of  recon¬ 
ciliation  with  modern  science. 

We  have  now  to  look  at  this  old  record  from  the 
purely  physical  standpoint,  and  to  inquire  as  to  its 
representation  of  the  actual  development  of  the 
earth  and  its  inhabitants.  This  may  be  best  done 
by  translating  its  terms  into  those  now  in  use,  and 
regarding  it  as  a  series  of  word-pictures,  not  so 
much  of  successive  stages  of  the  earth,  as  of  suc¬ 
cessive  introduction  of  new  features,  the  old 
arrangements  still  continuing  except  as  modified 
by  the  new. 

Its  initial  statement  that  in  the  beginning 
Elohim  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  re¬ 
quires  no  formal  proof.  The  universe  cannot 
have  been  eternal  or  self-created.  It  must  have 
proceeded  from  a  self-existent  First  Cause.  But 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


49 


in  the  beginning  the  earth  was  formless  and  void, 
enveloped  in  a  dense  vaporous  mass  and  in  thick 
darkness.  It  contained  the  resulting  cosmos  only 
potentially,  not  actually.  This  must  be  developed 
in  the  work  of  the  creative  week. 

1.  Light  is  introduced  either  from  a  photo¬ 
sphere  surrounding  the  earth  itself,  or  from  diffused 
luminous  matter  filling  the  space  within  the  earth’s 
orbit — possibly  from  both. 

2.  The  laws  regulating  the  suspension  of  clouds 
in  the  atmosphere,  and  the  preservation  of  a  clear 
aerial  film  between  the  waters  above  and  those 
below,  are  established. 

3.  The  earth’s  crust  is  ridged  up  to  form  embryo 
continents.  This  earliest  dry  land  becomes  clothed 
with  the  first  vegetation. 

4.  The  heavenly  bodies  become  distinct  by  the 
concentration  of  light  around  the  sun.  These 
bodies  are  not  gods,  but  (relatively  to  man)  merely 
time-measurers. 

5.  The  waters  are  stocked  with  the  lower  forms 
of  animal  life,  and  this  is  succeeded  by  the  domi¬ 
nance  of  reptiles  and  birds  in  the  air  and  on  the 
waters. 

6.  The  mammals  became  dominant,  more 
especially  on  the  land,  and  finally  man  is  intro¬ 
duced. 


4 


50 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


We  have  here  a  consistent  scheme  of  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  solar  system,  and  especially  of 
the  earth,  agreeing  in  the  main  with  the  results 
of  modern  astronomy  and  geology.  It  would  not 
be  easy  even  now  to  construct  a  statement  of  the 
development  of  the  world  in  popular  terms  so 
concise  and  so  accurate. 

It  has  been  objected  that  light  is  introduced 
before  the  sun  ;  but  on  any  of  the  hypotheses  of 
the  origin  of  the  solar  system  this  is  probable. 
It  has  been  objected  that  land  plants  are  intro¬ 
duced  before  animals,  yet  this  is  in  itself  likely  ; 
and  I  have  elsewhere  shown  that  there  are  geolo¬ 
gical  evidences  of  an  early  archean  vegetation  yet 
unknown  in  its  details.1  The  translation  of  the 
word  Tanninim  as  “whales”  or  “monsters”  has 
obscured  a  distinct  reference  to  the  reign  of  rep¬ 
tiles,  by  the  use  of  a  word  which  elsewhere  in  the 
Bible  is  applied  only  to  the  crocodile  and  the  larger 
serpents.  Objection  has  even  been  made  to  the 
omission  to  mention  the  earliest  marsupial 
mammals,  which  appeared  in  the  reign  of  rep¬ 
tiles  ;  but  we  are  to  look  here  for  great  leading 
features,  not  for  special  mention  of  creatures  in 
their  time  insignificant.  We  might  as  well  object 


1  “Geological  History  of  Plants.” 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


5 1 


to  there  being  no  special  notice  of  batrachians,  or 
of  wingless  as  distinguished  from  winged  birds. 
Besides,  it  has  been  remarked  that  in  Leviticus 
small  mammals  are  included  with  reptiles  in  the 
same  general  terms.  These  and  similar  objections 
proceed  from  trusting  to  merely  negative  evidence 
or  misinterpreting  words.  When  rightly  under¬ 
stood  they  leave  our  early  seer,  and  the  Egyptian 
graduate  who  edits  his  words,  on  a  much  higher 
mental  plane  than  that  of  their  modern  critics. 

Over  against  these  objections  we  may  place 
certain  grand  dominant  principles  and  facts,  in 
which  this  early  record  is  in  harmony  with  all  the 
true  science  and  philosophy  that  the  world  has 
ever  known. 

We  have  here  a  grand  conception  of  the  unity 
of  nature,  and  of  the  interdependence  of  all  its 
parts  as  a  continuous  work  of  an  Almighty  Power. 
In  the  physical  world  the  light,  the  ocean,  the 
atmosphere,  the  dry  land,  even  the  distant  lumin¬ 
aries  of  heaven  are  all  parts  of  one  system.  In 
the  world  of  life  the  plant  and  the  animal  are 
linked  together,  and  all  the  forms  of  animal  life, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  constitute  one 
series,  including  predaceous  and  carnivorous  beasts 
as  well  as  those  that  are  harmless  ;  and  finally 
man  crowns  the  series,  with  full  recognition  on 


52 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


the  one  hand  of  his  affinity  with  the  animal  world, 
and  on  the  other  of  the  rational  mind,  which 
enables  him  to  understand  and  rule  nature,  and 
hold  communion  with  God  Himself.  With  all 
this,  there  is  no  myth  or  superstition  connected 
with  any  natural  object,  no  sign  of  fetichism  or 
idolatry,  or  of  any  merely  astrological  use  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  such  as  we  might  have  expected 
in  the  later  and  more  corrupt  times  of  the  Eastern 
world. 

Our  old  record  also  anticipates  in  some  of  its 
aspects  the  Nebular  Theory.  It  recognises  the 
distinction  of  light  from  luminaries,  even  from 
the  great  sun  himself,  who  thus  ceases  to  be  a 
deity  and  becomes  a  mere  work  of  the  Creator. 
It  knows  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere,  and 
that  balancing  of  the  clouds  over  a  clear  stratum 
of  air  which  involves  so  many  complex  arrange¬ 
ments.  It  knows  that  the  land  arose  out  of  the 
primeval  ocean  ;  that  plant  life  on  the  land  must 
precede  that  of  the  animal,  even  by  a  long  time  ; 
that  the  lower  animals  of  the  waters  antedate  those 
of  the  land — the  mammals  and  man  closing  the 
list.  It  thus  informs  us  of  successive  reigns  of 
invertebrates,  of  reptiles,  of  mammals,  and  of  man ; 
and  in  the  whole  appear  design  and  development 
combined. 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


53 


There  is,  further,  in  the  Genesis  record,  an  entire 
absence  of  any  local  colouring — nothing  to  connect 
it  with  the  features  or  population  of  any  special 
region.  In  this  wholly  cosmical  and  general  style 
it  differs  from  the  Chaldean  Genesis,  and  from 
anything  in  later  Hebrew  literature,  even  from  the 
poetical  version  of  the  same  history  which  appears 
in  the  104th  Psalm. 

No  distinction  appears  here  of  any  varieties  or 
races  of  men,  of  any  grades  of  higher  and  lower 
tribes,  of  any  autochthones  as  distinguished  from 
strangers.  In  this  the  record  is  not  in  the  tone 
either  of  Chaldea  or  of  Egypt,  and  is  also  eminently 
diverse  from  later  Jewish  habits  of  thought.  This 
unity  and  equality  of  man  stamps  the  document 
as  a  Divine  revelation,  or  at  least  as  pertaining  to 
a  time  antecedent  to  such  distinctions,  which  even 
in  the  days  of  Moses,  and  indeed  long  before, 
were  engraved  on  the  mind  of  every  nation,  and 
against  which  Paul  had  long  afterwards  to  argue 
before  the  cultivated  Athenians,  to  whom  the  unity 
of  man  seemed  a  strange  novelty.  Considered 
even  as  a  mere  editor,  it  would  require  a  man  of 
the  breadth  of  culture  and  strong  moral  sense  of 
Moses  not  to  be  tempted  to  tamper  with  such  a 
document,  and  to  adapt  it  to  the  notions  of  his 
own  and  succeeding  times. 


54 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Lastly,  in  the  wonderful  development  of  the 
cosmos  there  is  no  distinction  of  good  and  evil 
powers  in  nature,  of  things  clean  and  unclean, 
noxious  or  healthful.  All  things  are  parts  of  the 
system  of  the  All-wise,  and  all  are  in  their  places 
very  good.  But  beyond  this  it  has  one  great 
practical  and  humanly  theological  conception,  and 
this  is  the  idea  of  rest.  God  finished  His  work 
and  entered  into  His  rest,  and  invites  man  to  enter 
into  it  with  Him.  This  idea  is  not  so  much  that 
of  a  mere  weekly  Sabbath  as  that  of  a  perennial 
rest,  into  which  man  enters  as  the  possessor  of  a 
complete  and  finished  world  in  which  everything 
is  good.  This  is  no  doubt  the  foundation  on  which 
the  obligation  of  the  weekly  Sabbath  ultimately 
rests ;  but  here  it  appears  in  its  broadest  and 
grandest  form  as  a  cosmic  day  of  rest  in  which 
man  is  to  enjoy  all  that  in  previous  aeons  has  been 
prepared  for  him.  It  is  the  true  and  perfect  picture 
of  the  primitive  golden  age,  which  has  imprinted 
itself  on  the  imagination  of  every  generation  of 
men.  The  special  human  history  which  begins  in 
the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  which  has  so 
absurdly  been  supposed  to  be  a  duplicate  and  even 
contradictory  version  of  this,  starts  from  the  same 
point,  though  with  a  local  aspect,  but  soon  intro¬ 
duces  us  to  that  tragedy  which  for  a  time  deprived 


The  Book  of  Genesis 


55 


man  of  this  primitive  rest,  which,  however,  “  still 
remaineth  ”  for  the  people  of  God. 

All  these  peculiarities  of  the  introduction  to 
Genesis,  while  they  tend  to  throw  its  composition 
back  into  the  dim  antiquity  of  our  race,  and  to 
separate  it  from  all  special  religions,  even  from  that 
of  the  Israelites  themselves  in  later  times,  fit  it  to 
be  the  foundation  of  all  religion,  and  the  companion 
of  all  science,  and  endear  it  to  every  mind  instinct 
with  the  love  of  nature.  We  are  never  weary  of  it. 
Like  the  songs  of  childhood,  it  is  ever  fresh,  and 
we  return  to  it  with  joy  as  an  oasis  of  peace  into 
which  the  turmoil  of  human  passion  can  never 
enter — the  very  garden  of  the  Lord. 

May  we  not  believe  that  we  owe  this  precious 
document  to  the  hand  of  the  great  Hebrew  sage 
and  prophet,  and  that  it  was  the  foundation  of  the 
teaching  whereby,  under  God,  he  changed  a  nation 
of  slaves,  deeply  sunk  in  degradation  and  idolatry, 
into  a  free,  independent,  and  God-fearing  people  ? 

Note. — My  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Carmichael,  of  Montreal, 
has  recently  published  a  paper  in  which  he  shows  how  easy 
it  would  be  to  dissect  many  modern  writings  into  two  docu¬ 
ments  ;  and  Prof.  Sayce  has  taken  occasion  in  an  article  in 
the  Contemporary  Review  (Oct.,  1895)  to  protest  strongly 
against  the  analytical  methods  employed  by  the  “higher 
criticism,”  maintaining  that  the  structure  of  all  ancient 
documents  disproves  such  piecemeal  composition  as  that 
supposed. 


IV 

EARLY  MAN  AND  EDEN 


§7 


IV 

EARLY  MAN  AND  EDEN 


WE  have  seen  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
with  verses  first  to  third  of  the  second, 
constitutes  a  complete  record  of  a  finished  and 
perfected  world,  with  man  at  its  head,  entering 
into  the  Sabbatism  of  his  Creator.  This  is  the 
ideal  world  of  our  narrator  in  its  golden  age, 
and  it  implies  not  a  merely  stationary  con¬ 
dition,  but  a  gradual  development  of  nature  in 
utility  and  beauty,  under  the  benevolent  guidance 
of  a  rational  being  destined  to  overspread,  and 
to  subdue  and  rule  the  world.  Had  this  con¬ 
tinued,  according  to  him,  there  had  been  no 
sin  and  suffering  on  the  one  hand,  and  none 
of  those  woes  or  benefits  which  have  sprung  from 
the  acquisition  of  the  practical  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil.  It  is  the  short  continuance  of  the 
golden  age  and  the  descent  from  the  unruffled 
current  of  primitive  innocence  to  the  boiling  rapids 
of  the  great  moral  fall  that  must  next  attract  our 


59 


6o 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


attention,  and  I  think  we  shall  find  that  in  no  part 
of  the  Pentateuch  is  there  more  certain  evidence  of 
primitive  authorship  and  Mosaic  editing  than  in 
the  history  of  Eden  and  the  antediluvian  age,  or 
more  exact  correspondence  in  these  respects  with 
the  facts  ascertained  from  other  sources. 

To  many  critics  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis 
is  in  part  an  imperfect  repetition  of  the  first,  con¬ 
stituting  a  different  version  of  creation,  of  later 
date,  but  found  by  the  redactors  among  their 
material  and  somewhat  unskilfully  patched  in  with 
their  work.  To  a  scientific  reader,  however,  it 
assumes  a  different  aspect,  being  evidently  local 
in  its  scope,  and  relating  to  conditions  of  the 
introduction  of  man  not  mentioned  in  the  general 
account  of  creation.  It  is  as  if  a  writer  on  primi¬ 
tive  man  were  to  precede  his  special  treatment  of 
that  subject  by  a  general  account  of  the  whole 
history  of  the  earth  ;  and,  having  thus  fixed  the 
geological  date  of  the  introduction  of  man,  should 
then  proceed  to  a  detailed  account  of  the  early 
Anthropic  period. 

This  second  narrative  has  a  special  introduction, 
which  connects  it  with  the  previous  history,  and  at 
the  same  time  marks  a  new  beginning  with  the 
formula — “  These  are  the  generations,”  etc.— which 
reappears  in  subsequent  portions  of  the  book,  and 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


61 


which  implies  that  this  new  section  has  a  human 
rather  than  a  cosmical  interest,  and  thus  forms  a 
link  between  the  general  physical  and  organic 
creation  and  the  history  of  man,  in  connection 
with  a  particular  region  which  it  proceeds  to 
specialize  in  the  description  of  Eden.  All  this,  as 
we  shall  see  immediately,  is  carefully,  and  in  a 
truly  scientific  manner,  carried  out  in  detail. 

A  preliminary  point,  however,  is  to  inquire  why 
the  narrator  introduces  a  new  designation  of  God 
— Jehovah-Elohim,1  instead  of  Elohim  merely.  It 
is  clear  that,  on  the  hypothesis  of  a  Mosaic  author¬ 
ship  or  editorship,  we  cannot  attribute  this  to  a 
new  redactor  or  author  of  different  date,  and  must 
be  prepared  to  consider  the  change  as  a  part  of 
the  plan  of  the  book,  and  made  for  some  definite 
purpose,  which  may  probably  be  learned  from  the 
book  itself.  It  may  seem  at  first  sight  that  this 
question  is  foreign  to  our  present  purpose  ;  but 
science  and  history  concern  themselves  with  names 
as  well  as  with  things  and  facts,  and  the  origin  and 
use  of  terms  may  often  throw  important  light  both 
on  dates  and  causes.  It  may  therefore  be  proper 
to  attend  very  shortly  here  to  the  use  of  the  name 


1  I  shall  use  the  ordinary  spelling  of  the  name  Jehovah,  as 
the  most  familiar,  though  probably  not  correct. 


62 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Jehovah  as  explained  in  the  work  we  are  consider¬ 
ing.  We  shall  best  understand  this  by  noting  its 
history  as  stated  by  the  author,  his  own  personal 
relations  to  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  assigns 
its  use  to  his  characters.  He  first  introduces  it  to 
us  in  the  remarkable  saying  attributed  to  the  first 
mother  on  the  birth  of  Cain,  “  I  have  gotten  a  man 
the  Jehovah,”  or  “the  one  that  is  to  be.”  What 
precise  theological  meaning  we  are  to  attach  to 
this  saying  it  is  unnecessary  to  inquire  ;  but  we 
can  scarcely  be  wrong  in  supposing  that  it  refers 
in  some  way  to  “  the  seed  of  the  woman  ”  promised 
in  a  previous  passage,  and  that  Eve  connects  the 
birth  of  her  son  with  this  promise.  The  name 
reappears  on  the  birth  of  Eve’s  grandson  Enos, 
when  either  Seth,  the  father  of  Enos,  or  man  in 
general  began  to  “call  on  the  name  of  Jehovah,” 
or  “praised  and  called  on  the  name  of  Jehovah,” 
which  would  seem  to  imply  that  special  attention 
was  at  this  time  directed  to  the  coming  deliverer 
as  a  Divine  person.  I  can  scarcely  help  connecting 
this  with  the  hint  of  two  distinct  religions  conveyed 
in  the  story  of  the  marriage  of  the  sons  of  God 
(Beni-ha-Elohim)  with  the  daughters  of  men 
(Benoth-ha-Adam),  which  seems  to  imply  that 
the  Cainites  retained  exclusively  the  worship  of 
Elohim  or  the  God  of  Nature,  while  the  Sethites, 


Early  Man  and  Eden  63 

regarded  as  the  heirs  of  the  promise  made  to 
Adam,  invoked  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  that  the 
two  tribes,  after  remaining  separate  for  a  time, 
were  re-united  by  these  marriages.  Of  course,  I 
cannot  for  a  moment  entertain  the  idea  of  mar¬ 
riages  between  angelic  beings,  whether  good  or 
bad,  and  human  wives,  and  the  use  of  the  term 
sons  of  God,  in  Job  and  elsewhere,  for  superhuman 
beings  may  be  placed  with  the  fact  that  men 
also  are  called  sons  of  God,  and  in  one  passage 
(Ps.  lxxxii.  6)  “  gods,”  as  well  as  “  children  of  the 
Most  High.”  From  these  marriages,  contracted 
in  an  unlawful  way  by  capture  on  the  part  of  the 
men,1  there  arose  a  mixed  progeny,  physically 
more  powerful  and  energetic  than  either  of  the 
pure  races,  the  Nephelim  and  Gibborim  of  the 
antediluvian  time  ;  and  whose  remains  are  prob¬ 
ably  now  known  to  us  in  the  gigantic  skeletons 
of  the  caverns  of  the  Palanthropic  ages. 

Subsequently  to  this  we  find  occasional  examples 
in  Genesis,  especially  in  the  earlier  part,  of  the  use 
of  the  name  Jehovah  by  the  personages  of  the 
history ;  but  in  the  more  important  places,  as  in 
the  successive  revelations  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and 

1  Compare  chap.  ii.  24,  and  our  Lord’s  comment  on  it 
(Matt.  xix.  5).  We  may  have  to  return  to  this  curious  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  mixed  marriages. 


64 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Jacob,  and  in  the  closing  benediction  of  the  latter, 
the  formula  “  God  Almighty  ”  is  used.1  Hence 
when  at  a  much  later  date  God  communes  with 
Moses  (Exod.  iii.),  and  reveals  himself  by  the  name 
of  Jehovah  in  connection  with  the  redemption  of 
Israel,  we  find  Moses  addressing  God  as  Adonai, 
and  expressing  himself  as  if  it  was  a  question  with 
him  by  what  name  he  should  introduce  God  to  his 
countrymen.  In  harmony  with  this  is  the  state¬ 
ment  that  God  was  not  known  to  the  patriarchs 
by  the  name  or  in  the  character  of  Jehovah,  and 
that  His  formal  name  to  them  was  God  Almighty. 
With  this  also  agrees  the  objection  attributed  to 
Pharaoh,  “  Who  is  Jehovah  that  I  should  obey 
him?”  and  “I  know  not  Jehovah.”  Had  the 
name  Adon  been  used,  he  would  have  known  this 
as  a  Semitic  name  for  God,  and  even  the  name  of 
Elohim  was  probably  known  to  him  in  the  same 
connection.  From  all  this  it  appears  that  while 
our  narrator  in  Genesis  attributes  a  great  antiquity 
to  the  name  Jehovah,  and  connects  it  with  the  idea 
of  a  covenant  of  redemption  made  with  man,  he 
represents  it  as  falling  into  comparative  disuse,  and 
in  Exodus  it  is  again  brought  to  the  front  by  the 
agency  of  Moses.  If  this  is  true,  who  so  likely  as 

1  Gen.  xvii.  i,  xxviii.  3,  xxxv.  11,  xlviii.  3,  xlix.  25  ;  also  in 
Jacob’s  emotional  blessing  of  Benjamin,  xliii.  14. 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


65 


Moses  to  have  introduced  the  name  into  the  early 
history  of  man  ?  By  doing  so  and  constantly 
repeating  it  in  his  narrative,  he  forced  it  on  his 
readers’  memories  as  a  name,  not  merefy  of  a  tribal 
and  national  God,  but  as  one  claiming  supremacy 
over  all  men,  and  especially  as  having  to  do  with 
the  redemption  of  man  from  sin  and  slavery,  and 
with  their  own  special  deliverance.  Thus  it  was 
proper  to  introduce  it  everywhere  in  his  narrative, 
but  not  to  give  it  premature  prominence  in  the 
language  of  his  characters.  We  see  also  from 
these  facts  the  expediency  of  the  transition  expres¬ 
sion  Jehovah-Elohim,  the  Lord-God.  By  this  he 
marks  the  change  from  the  general  account  of  the 
creation  to  the  special  history  of  man,  and  from 
the  cosmical  work  of  the  Godhead  (Elohim)  to  the 
special  work  of  election  and  redemption  which 
form  his  theme  after  the  fall,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  avoids  the  possibility  of  supposing  that  he 
believes  in  a  plurality  of  gods,  and  that  Jehovah  is 
a  distinct  God  from  Elohim.  All  this  is  perfectly 
in  accordance  with  the  personality  of  Moses  as 
previously  defined,  and  strongly  points  to  him  as 
editor  and  author  of  Genesis  and  Exodus.  Why 
should  not  the  man  who  represents  himself  as 
specially  commissioned  to  make  God  known  by 
this  name,  use  it  in  all  that  part  of  his  history  which 

5 


66 


Eden  Lost  and  lVo?z 


refers  to  the  chosen  people  ?  and  as  it  designated 
not  only  the  God  who  was  and  is,  but  the  God  to 
come  as  the  deliverer,  what  more  appropriate  than 
its  use  in  those  earlier  parts  of  his  story  in  which 
he  represents  the  promise  of  redemption  as  given 
in  advance  to  Adam  and  Eve  ?  The  whole  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  name  is  perfectly  consistent  with  itself, 
and  no  one  is  historically  so  likely  as  Moses  to 
have  been  at  once  the  “  Jehovist  ”  and  “  Elohist  ” 
of  Genesis.  But  the  descriptive  part  of  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis  affords  still  more  certain  argu¬ 
ments  to  which  we  must  now  turn. 

The  statements  made  in  the  fifth  and  following 
verses  are  puzzling  at  first  sight,  and  different  from 
what  we  should  have  expected.  “No  shrub  of  the 
field  was  yet  in  the  earth,  and  no  herb  of  the  field 
had  yet  sprung  up,  for  the  Lord  God  had  not 
caused  it  to  rain  on  the  earth,  and  there  was  not 
a  man  to  till  the  ground  ;  but  there  went  up  a  mist 
from  the  earth  and  watered  1  the  surface  of  the 
ground.”  This  obviously  refers  to  a  condition  of 
the  earth,  or  a  part  of  it,  immediately  antecedent 
to  the  introduction  of  man,  and  the  picture  it 
presents  is  that  of  an  alluvial  flat  recently  aban¬ 
doned  of  the  waters,  in  a  rainless  climate  and 


1  Caused  to  be  watered. 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


67 


watered  by  dense  mists  or  copious  dews,  and  thus 
eventually  becoming  clothed  with  the  rank  vegeta¬ 
tion  that  may  exist  in  such  places.  If  Moses  was 
the  writer,  was  he  thinking  of  the  alluvium  of  the 
Nile  as  the  inundation  leaves  it  ?  The  subsequent 
localization  of  Eden  shows  that  this  could  not  have 
been  the  locality  in  view.  The  picture  is,  however, 
that  of  the  alluvial  plain  of  a  great  river,  at  first  a 
mere  expanse  of  sand  and  mud  exhaling  vapour, 
but  afterwards  clothed  with  plants,  and  ultimately 
converted  into  the  Garden  of  the  Lord.  We  may 
suppose  the  time  to  have  been  that  following  one 
of  the  later  submergences  of  the  margins  of  the 
continents,  immediately  before  the  advent  of  man 
and  his  companion  animals.  With  reference  to 
these  last,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  we  are  not  now, 
as  in  chapter  first,  dealing  with  the  whole  animal 
creation,  but  with  a  local  fauna,  that  of  the  Edenic 
region  which  was  man’s  first  habitat.  The  objec¬ 
tion  therefore  sometimes  taken  that  this  second 
account  of  the  creation  of  animals  is  contrary  to 
the  first,  falls  to  the  ground.  The  second  descrip¬ 
tion  refers  merely  to  the  advent  of  a  Modern  local 
fauna. 

The  idea  thus  conveyed  to  us  is  that  man  was 
produced  on  some  recently  elevated  alluvial  plain, 
a  view  quite  in  accordance  with  historical  fact, 


68 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


since  it  has  usually  been  on  the  latest  geological 
formations  that  man  has  by  preference  settled,  and 
that  populous  nations  have  most  rapidly  grown  up. 
This  was  not  an  idea  likely  to  have  occurred  to  a 
writer  or  compiler  dwelling  on  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  Palestine.  It  would  better  suit  the  Egyptian, 
who  believed  men  and  animals  to  have  sprung 
from  the  fertile  mud  of  the  Nile  ;  or  an  inhabitant 
of  the  Great  Idinu,  Sumir,  or  Euphratean  plain, 
whose  people  seem  always  to  have  believed  that 
they  occupied  the  primitive  abode  of  man  ;  so  that 
if  we  regard  this  composition  independently  alto¬ 
gether  of  inspiration,  it  is  likely  to  be  of  Egyptian 
or  Mesopotamian  origin  rather  than  Palestinian. 
It  should  be  stated  here,  however,  that  it  has  been 
generally  admitted  that,  under  any  hypothesis  as 
to  the  origin  of  man,  he  must  in  a  state  of  nature 
have  enjoyed  a  warm  and  equable  climate  afford¬ 
ing  supplies  of  vegetable  food  throughout  the  year, 
and  free  from  the  incursions  of  the  more  formid¬ 
able  beasts  of  prey.  Such  conditions  are  to  be 
realized  only  in  tropical  oceanic  islands,  or  in  the 
deltas  of  great  rivers  in  low  latitudes.  Haekel,  in 
his  “History  of  Creation,”  and  of  course  without  any 
reference  to  Genesis,  after  discussing  the  relative 
merits  of  various  places,  concludes  that  the  human 
species  must  have  originated  near  the  Persian  Gulf 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


69 


or  on  an  imaginary  continent  now  submerged  to 
the  south  of  it, — thus,  as  we  shall  see,  agreeing  very 
nearly  with  the  old  record  in  Genesis.  This  leads, 
however,  to  consider  the  actual  site  selected  by 
our  narrator  for  the  primitive  abode  of  man,  of 
which  he  gives  a  geographical  description  which 
we  shall  find  has  a  most  far-reaching  significance. 

“Gan  Eden,”  says  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  “an¬ 
swers  to  the  old  Babylonian  Gan  Dunya,  and  must 
have  been  situated  on  the  Euphrates  and  three 
other  rivers  watering  the  plain  of  Babylonia.” 
Many  of  the  older  writers,  as  is  well  known,  favour 
this  view,  and  among  later  authorities  may  be 
mentioned  Delitszch,  Pinches  and  Sayce.  It 
agrees  also,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the  introductory 
description.  Without  waiting  at  present  to  notice 
objections,  we  may  proceed  at  once  to  indicate  the 
character  of  the  geographical  description,  and  the 
consequent  standpoint  and  date  of  the  writer. 

Eden,  according  to  our  narrator,  was  a  district 
or  region  within  which,  and  probably  in  its  eastern 
part,  was  planted  the  “  Garden  ”  intended  for  the 
primal  abode  of  man.1  It  was  irrigated  by  four 
rivers,  and  I  think  in  a  document  so  ancient  it  is 


1  We  need  not  stop  to  enquire  as  to  the  precise  meaning 
of  the  word  translated  “  eastward  ”  or  “  beforehand.” 


70 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


not  necessary  to  insist  on  a  later  Semitic  usage, 
which  would  cause  us  to  understand  the  word 
“  heads  ”  as  “  mouths,”  and  so  to  render  unintellig¬ 
ible  the  whole  description  from  a  geographical 
point  of  view.  We  may  assume  that  the  four 
rivers  were  confluent  in  the  region  and  that  the 
“  heads  ”  into  which  they  were  divided  are  their 
sources. 

One  of  these  rivers,  the  Euphrates,  or  Perath, 
was  evidently  the  standpoint  of  the  writer,  for  he 
merely  gives  its  name.  The  second,  Hiddekel,  or 
Tigris,  he  says,  goeth  in  or  toward  the  front  or 
east  of  Assyria  or  Asshur.  The  third,  Gihon 
(rushing  or  pushing  river),  is  said  to  run  around 
the  land  of  Cush.  The  fourth,  or  more  distant 
river,  Pison  (spreading  river),  being  probably  more 
distant  and  less  known  to  his  readers,  he  character¬ 
izes  more  fully.  It  runs  around  the  land  of 
Havilah,  where  there  is  gold,  “  and  the  gold  of  that 
land  is  good  ;  there  is  bedolach  and  shoham 
stone.”  We  are  thus  restricted  to  the  region  of 
the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  ;  and  to  the  eastward  of 
the  latter  are  the  important  rivers  Kherkah  and 
Karun,  both  flowing  into  the  Shat-el-Arab  formed 
by  the  confluence  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris, 
and,  as  modern  exploration  shows,  corresponding 
with  the  indications  of  our  old  geographer. 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


7i 


Taking  them  now  in  the  order  of  the  narrative, 
and  identifying  the  Pison  with  the  Karun,  we  find 
that  this  alone  of  the  four  rivers  flows  down  from 
the  high  range  of  the  mountains  of  Luristan  (the 
ancient  Zagros),  which  lies  along  the  western 
frontier  of  Persia,  and  is  the  only  range  of  granitic 
and  metamorphic  rocks  near  to  the  old  Eden  plain. 
These  hills  have,  according  to  the  late  eminent 
geologist,  William  Kennet  Loftus,1 2  gold  washings 
in  some  of  their  streams,  abundance  of  garnets, 
crystalline  quartz  and  serpentine,  as  well  as  of  the 
pure  white  gypsum,  afterwards  used  so  extensively 
by  the  Assyrians,  and  they  afford  also  jade,  flinty 
slate,  chert  and  jasper,  suitable  for  the  tools  and 
implements  of  primitive  man.  Furthermore,  this 
is  the  sole  region  near  to  the  valley  of  the  Lower 
Euphrates  which  yields  these  treasures.  I  have 
already,  in  a  paper  in  The  Expositor l  stated  the 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  “  gold  bedolach  and 
shoham  stone  ”  of  our  old  narrative  should  be 
regarded  as  intended  to  represent  native  metals, 


1  “  Geology  of  the  T urko-Persian  F rontier,  and  of  Districts 
Adjoining  ” — Journal  of  Geological  Society  of  London ,  vol. 
x.  p.  247.  I  have  carefully  examined  the  collections  of 
Loftus,  now  preserved  in  London. 

2  March,  1887.  See  also  “  Modern  Science  in  Bible 
Lands.” 


72 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


pearly  or  other  stones  available  for  personal  orna¬ 
ment,  and  jade  and  its  allied  rocks  ;  in  other  words, 
“  gold,  wampum  and  stone  for  implements,”  the 
treasures  of  primitive  man.  I  need  not  repeat  the 
evidence  here  ;  but  may  state  a  curious  confirm¬ 
ation  which  I  have  not  seen  noticed.  In  the 
Apocalypse,  where  the  description  of  Eden  is 
repeated  and  extended  in  that  of  the  New  Jeru¬ 
salem,  we  find  the  “  gold,  bedolach  and  shoham  ” 
of  Genesis  represented  by  the  golden  streets,  the 
pearly  gates,  and  the  foundations  of  precious 
stones.  Thus  the  Karun,  the  Pasi-Tigris  of  Greek 
writers,  flowing  from  the  ancient  Mount  Zagros, 
and  spreading  on  the  Euphratean  plain,  is  the  only 
one  of  the  four  great  rivers  of  the  region  to  which 
the  description  of  our  author  can  apply,  and  for 
this  identification  we  are  indebted  to  the  labours 
of  an  English  geologist,  who  had,  however,  no 
reference  in  his  explorations  to  Biblical  history. 
This  same  river  Pison  is  said  to  traverse  the  land 
of  Havilah  ;  and  as  this  name  belongs  to  the  early 
post-diluvian  period,  it  proves,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
date  of  our  writer.  But  in  the  account  of  the 
dispersion  of  men  in  Genesis  x.,  we  read  of  two 
Havilahs- — one  the  son  of  Cush,  of  the  linfe  of 
Ham,  the  other  a  son  of  Joktan,  of  the  line  of 
Shem.  We  should  at  first  sight  be  inclined  to 


Early  Mail  and  Eden 


73 


prefer  the  Cushite  Havilah  ;  but  the  author  or 
editor  of  Genesis  adds  a  note  to  the  effect  that  it 
was  the  Shemitic  Havilah  who  had  his  dwelling 
“  as  thou  goest  towards  Sephar,  the  mountain  (or 
hill  country)  of  the  East,  which  can  be  no  other 
than  Mount  Zagros.1  The  next  river,  the  Gihon, 
which,  if  represented  by  the  modern  Kherkah,  runs 
parallel  to,  but  not  from  the  Zagros  chain,2  is  said 
to  compass  the  land  of  Cush,  not  an  African  Cush 
or  Ethiopia,  but  that  same  Cushite  people  which, 
according  to  Genesis,  established  the  earliest  king¬ 
dom  in  the  plain  of  Shinar.  The  existence  of  this 
early  Cushite  or  Turanian  kingdom,  and  its  im¬ 
portance  and  civilization,  and  the  colonies  which  it 
sent  into  Arabia  and  Africa,  are  now  well  known 
from  the  ancient  Chaldean  inscriptions,  especially 
those  of  Tel-loh  ;  and  Hommel  has  quite  recently 
confirmed  the  identification  of  Nimrod  with  the  old 
Chaldean  hero  Gisdubar,3  and  has  even  published 
an  inscription  calling  him  the  founder  of  Erech,  the 

1  Connected  no  doubt  with  the  Sepharvaim  and  Sippara 
of  early  times,  and  with  the  early  settlement  of  Semitic 
Elamites  in  Persia. 

2  In  most  modern  maps  it  is  otherwise,  but  Loftus  shows 
that  this  is  incorrect,  our  old  geographer  in  Genesis  being 
more  accurate  than  those  of  more  modern  times. 

3  Journal  of  Biblical  Archeology,  November  and  De- 
cember,  1893.  Another  name  of  this  hero  is  Gilgamos. 


74 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


city  which,  according  to  Genesis,  was  the  beginning 
of  his  kingdom.  The  connection  of  the  Tigris 
from  the  earliest  times  with  the  beginning  of  the 
Assyrian  empire  is  well  known.  Thus  we  identify 
the  site  of  Eden  by  both  the  physical  and  the 
historical  geography  of  our  narrative. 

Having,  however,  thus  verified  this  unique  and 
ancient  geographical  description,  we  may  go  a  step 
farther,  and  find  the  date  of  the  narrator  himself. 
He  is  clearly  not  an  antediluvian  writer,  for  his 
political  geography,  according  to  the  tenth  chapter 
of  the  same  book,  applies  to  post-diluvian  times. 
But  he  belongs  to  a  very  early  post-diluvian  time 
— to  that  age  when  the  Cushite  empire  founded  by 
Nimrod  was  still  dominant  on  the  Lower  Tigris, 
when  the  Shemites  of  Asshur  and  Havilah  were 
beginning  to  establish  independent  kingdoms  on 
the  north  and  east,  destined  at  a  very  early  date  to 
subvert  that  of  the  Cushites,  and  when  Cush  was  a 
name  not  for  an  African  but  for  an  Asiatic  nation. 
We  know  from  the  Chaldean  records  themselves 
that  at  a  very  ancient  period  the  Elamite  people, 
represented  in  the  time  of  Abraham  by  Chedor- 
laomer  and  his  allies,  had  already  triumphed  over 
the  old  Cushite  kingdom,  which  was  never  restored 
in  its  primitive  form.  Therefore,  just  as  this  early 
writer  fixes  his  geographical  point  of  view  on  the 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


75 


bank  of  the  Euphrates,  he  fixes  his  chronological 
standpoint  between  the  time  of  Noah  and  that  of 
Abraham,  and  probably  nearer  to  the  former  than 
to  the  latter.  The  only  other  alternative  would  be 
to  suppose  that  some  later  writer  had  contrived  to 
place  himself  in  imagination  so  closely  in  the 
geographical  and  historical  environment  of  a 
supposed  ancient  author,  that  modern  discoveries, 
of  which  he  must  have  been  entirely  ignorant, 
would  only  serve  to  confirm  his  statements.  This 
is  simply  incredible  ;  but  even  this  unlikely  sup¬ 
position  has  been  provided  for. 

In  the  time  to  which  we  have  referred  the  de¬ 
scription  of  Eden,  it  is  certain  that  the  Persian  Gulf 
extended  farther  to  the  north-west,  and  that  the 
outlets  of  the  four  rivers  of  the  Babylonian  plain 
were  more  separated,  and  their  banks  even  more 
low  and  marshy  than  in  modern  times.  This  was 
a  consequence  of  a  great  post-glacial  submergence, 
probably  the  same  with  the  historical  deluge.  The 
locality  was  therefore  less  suited  than  even  at 
present  to  be  the  Garden  of  the  Lord  ;  and  much 
of  it  was  probably  submerged,  and  only  in  later 
times  gradually  reclaimed  by  the  silting-up  of  the 
head  of  the  gulf.  But  in  the  early  antediluvian 
time,  the  second  continental  period  of  geologists,  it 
must  have  been  higher  than  now,  the  Persian  Gulf 


76 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


must  have  been  in  part  dry  land,  the  four  rivers 
must  have  been  more  nearly  united,  and  the  marshy 
Babylonian  plain  may  have  been  comparatively 
dry  and  forest-clad.  Our  old  narrator  must  have 
known  this  as  a  historical  or  traditional  fact,  and 
that  the  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  had  become 
greatly  deteriorated  if  not  obliterated  in  his  time. 
Therefore,  though  he  is  bold  enough  to  place  the 
aboriginal  abode  of  man  in  this  unlikely  locality, 
he  makes  no  attempt  to  identify  the  precise  site  of 
the  garden,  but  only  of  the  district  in  which  it  had 
been  situated.  This  is  the  attitude  not  of  a  writer 
of  fiction,  but  of  an  annalist  living  near  to  the 
times  which  he  describes,  and  rigidly  adhering  to 
the  evidence  before  him,  even  when  appearances 
were  against  it. 

We  have,  therefore,  arrived,  on  infallible  evi¬ 
dence  furnished  by  geology,  geography  and  his¬ 
tory,  at  the  conclusion  that  the  original  author 
of  the  document  of  which  the  second  chaptbr 
of  Genesis  forms  a  portion,  flourished  somewhere 
between  the  time  of  the  Deluge  and  that  of  the 
patriarch  Abraham.  This  conclusion  cannot  now 
be  shaken  by  any  literary  criticism,  and  is  in 
every  way  likely  to  be  further  confirmed  by  new 
discoveries.  We  have,  also,  a  right  on  lin¬ 
guistic  grounds  to  carry  this  statement  forward, 


Early  Man  and  Eden 


77 


at  least  to  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  chapter, 
and  to  suppose  that  a  writer  who  shows  himself 
so  careful  and  so  accurate  in  his  geography  and 
history,  will  be  equally  so  in  the  biographical 
details  into  which  he  next  enters.  Further,  we 
cannot  suppose  that  a  document  so  important  as 
this  was  unknown  to  Moses  or  other  learned 
men  of  his  time,  and  was  left  to  be  disinterred 
by  later  historians.  If  any  literary  evidence  can 
be  adduced  to  prove  that  it  is  a  Hebrew  trans¬ 
lation  by  the  great  Lawgiver  from  a  Turanian 
original,  or  that  its  diction  has  been  in  any  way 
modified  or  modernized,  we  may  be  prepared  to 
listen  to  this  ;  but  nothing  can  shake  the  demon¬ 
stration  of  its  original  date  and  geographical 
accuracy.  The  historical  critics  have  thus  at 
least  one  dated  document  from  which  they  may, 
if  so  disposed,  make  a  new  departure  in  their 
investigations. 

I  do  not  propose  to  write  a  commentary  on 
Genesis,  and  therefore  in  my  next  paper  shall 
move  onward  to  the  narrative  of  the  Deluge, 
which,  if  I  mistake  not,  can  now  be  very  fully 
illustrated  by  geological  and  archaeological  facts, 
and  referred  to  its  true  position  as  pre-Mosaic 
history. 


V 


ANTEDILUVIANS  AND  THE  DELUGE 


V 

ANTEDILUVIANS  AND  THE  DELUGE 

IN  the  last  chapter  attention  was  directed  to  the 
remarkably  clear  evidence  afforded  by  the 
description  of  Eden  as  to  the  antiquity  and 
authorship  of  the  early  part  of  Genesis.  Did 
space  permit,  this  might  be  confirmed  and  ex¬ 
tended  by  many  details  of  the  succeeding  ante¬ 
diluvian  history,  but  we  must  at  present  only 
consider  this  cursorily,  and  proceed  as  rapidly  as 
possible  to  the  narrative  of  the  Deluge,  which 
has  many  physical  relations  of  the  highest  im¬ 
portance,  and  has  recently  been  subjected  to 
much  hostile  criticism  ;  but  is  now  happily  begin¬ 
ning  to  rid  itself  of  its  adversaries. 

In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  the 
Palanthropic  age  of  Geology,  the  earlier  part  of 
the  Anthropic  or  so-called  Quaternary  Period, 
may  be  held  to  correspond  with  the  Antedi¬ 
luvian  age  of  history,  though  there  are  naturally 


82 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


divergences  arising  from  the  different  points  of 
view  and  various  kinds  of  material  afforded  by 
the  record  of  the  earth  and  that  of  human  his¬ 
tory.  This  earliest  human  age  is  separated  from 
the  ordinary  historic  period,  according  to  Gene¬ 
sis,  by  the  Deluge  of  Noah,  and  according  to 
Geology  by  the  great  post-glacial  submergence 
which  marks  the  division  between  Palanthropic 
man  with  his  contemporary  animals  and  the  men 
and  animals  of  the  Neanthropic  age,  and  which 
has  recently  been  so  ably  illustrated  by  Prest- 
wich  in  his  memoirs  on  the  “  Rubble  Drift,”  and 
allied  deposits  in  Europe.1  From  this  submer¬ 
gence  the  continents  of  the  northern  hemisphere 
have  only  partially  arisen,  so  that  they  are  now 
smaller  in  area  than  in  the  Palanthropic  age, 
though  some  of  their  mountains  may  be  more 
elevated.  The  two  records  agree  in  assuring  us 
that  this  submergence  was  of  short  duration,  and 
that  it  destroyed  many  of  the  wild  animals  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  men  of  the  period.2 


1  Transactions  Royal  Society  of  Londo?i ,  1893,  p.  903. 
Quarterly  Journal  Geological  Society  London ,  vol.  xlviii., 
p.  326.  Also  paper  read  to  Victoria  Institute,  March,  1894. 

2  I  pointed  out  the  geological  evidence  of  the  Deluge  in 
“Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,”  chapter  iv.,  1888,  also  in 
an  article  in  the  Contemporary  Review ,  1890. 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  83 


When  I  first  wrote  on  this  subject  in  my  volume 
entitled  “Archaia”  (i860),  it  was  impossible  to 
affirm  with  certainty  that  there  were  any  known 
remains  of  antediluvian  man ;  but  now  the  ex¬ 
ploration  of  caverns  and  other  deposits  has  given 
us  abundant  relics  of  these  men  and  their  works, 
and  we  know  that  before  the  Deluge  they  had 
distributed  themselves  widely  over  the  Eur- Asian 
continent  at  least.  We  cannot  here  enter  into 
the  details  of  these  discoveries,  but  reference  may 
be  made  to  works  cited  in  the  notes.  A  very 
short  survey  of  the  Antediluvian  Age  as  recorded 
in  Genesis  will  enable  us  to  show  the  principal 
points  of  contact. 

Genesis  gives  us  in  the  line  of  Seth  only  ten 
antediluvian  generations,  but  these  cover  at  least 
sixteen  centuries  and  possibly  twenty-two,  a  time 
amply  sufficient  for  the  events  which  it  records, 
and  to  permit  a  very  wide  dispersion  of  men 
over  the  earth.  The  Cainite  list  is  shorter, 
having  only  seven  names.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  this  is  a  repetition  of  part  of  the  other ; 
but  as  Lenormant  has  well  said,  “  the  resemblance 
is  an  assonance  not  an  identity.”  On  our  present 
hypothesis  the  Cainite  list  is  probably  defective, 
owing  to  severance  of  the  Cainite  stock  from 
the  other  branch  of  the  human  family  to  which 


84 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


the  genealogy  probably  belongs.  Hommel 1  has 
shown  a  strong  probability  that  the  ten  antedi¬ 
luvian  kings  of  Berosus,  the  Babylonian  historian, 
represent  the  ten  patriarchs  of  Genesis,  so  that 
we  have  here  concurrent  Chaldean  testimony, 
while  the  Horshesu  or  Children  of  Horus  may 
be  regarded  as  their  representatives  in  Egypt. 
The  length  of  the  lives  of  these  patriarchs,  though 
far  inferior  to  that  assigned  to  the  Chaldean 
kings,  has  been  made  an  objection  to  our  record. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  case  of  a  new  and 
vigorous  species  living  in  a  natural  manner,  and 
free  as  yet  from  the  attacks  of  epidemic  disease, 
there  is  nothing  impossible  in  this,  and  the  state¬ 
ment  made  without  comment  argues  a  document 
of  great  antiquity.  A  curious  incidental  con¬ 
firmation  of  it  comes  from  a  time  much  nearer 
to  that  of  Moses,  in  the  remark  attributed  to 
Jacob  in  his  interview  with  Pharaoh,  when  he 
says,  “  few  and  evil  have  been  the  days  of  my 
sojourning,”  in  comparison  with  that  of  my 
fathers,  though  Jacob’s  years  had  already  reached 
130;  so  that  the  editor  of  Genesis  believes  Jacob 
to  have  been  acquainted  with  these  long  lives  as 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  his  predecessors. 


1  Proc.  I?ist.  Bib.  Archceology ,  March,  1893. 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  85 


The  key  to  the  whole  antediluvian  history, 
after  the  fall,  is  the  murder  of  Abel,  a  sad  story 
of  crime  and  family  disruption,  which,  gilded  by 
the  fancy  of  poets  of  the  later  ages  and  the  in¬ 
ventions  of  priests,  has  spread  itself  over  the 
world.  There  can  now  be  no  doubt  that  the 
goddess  Ishtar  of  the  Chaldeans  is  not  a  mere 
lunar  or  star  myth,  however  she  may  have  been 
emblematized  by  such  things,  but  a  veritable 
woman  and  the  first  mother  of  men.  Probably 
the  oldest  literary  record  of  Ishtar  is  that  in  the 
Akkadian  legend  of  the  Deluge,  in  which  she  is 
represented  as  mourning  over  the  destruction  of 
men,  and  calling  them  the  children  she  had 
brought  forth.  This  settles  her  true  primitive 
character,  and  agrees  with  the  old  Babylonian 
doctrine  stated  by  Sayce,1  that  Tammuz  or 
Adonis  was  not  her  husband  but  her  son,  slain 
by  his  brother  Adar,  afterwards  fitly  the  god  of 
war.  It  is  for  him  that  in  an  old  Chaldean 
hymn  she  descends  to  Hades  in  the  vain  hope 
of  restoring  him  from  the  dead,  and  it  was  for 
him  that  the  Phoenician  women  continued  in 
later  days  to  weep.  Ishtar  is  Astarte,  Artemis, 
Athor,  and  a  host  of  later  deifications  of  mother- 


1  “  Hibbert  Lectures,”  1887. 


86 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


hood,  culminating  in  our  own  time  in  that  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.  Her  history  must  have  been 
known  to  Moses  and  other  well-read  scribes  of 
his  day,  and  we  may  fairly  attribute  to  this  the 
prominence  given  to  the  story  in  its  original 
guise  of  a  family  tragedy,  deprived  of  its  later 
surroundings  of  myth  and  idolatry.  This  is  the 
manner  of  Moses  in  treating  the  myths  of  the 
heathen. 

Cain  becomes  a  fugitive  and  establishes  a 
separate  community,  the  Beni  ha-Elohim  of  our 
last  paper,  among  whom,  on  the  one  hand,  arts 
and  inventions  flourished,  and  on  the  other  hand 
some  tribes  fell  away  into  a  rude  and  nomadic 
barbarism.  The  Sethites,  the  proper  sons  of 
Adam,  probably  remained  in  the  original  seats  of 
man  and  pursued  a  quiet  agricultural  and  pas¬ 
toral  life.  But  a  time  came  when  the  warlike 
and  lawless  tribes  of  the  Cainites  invaded  the 
Sethite  territory  and  carried  off  the  daughters  of 
Seth  as  captives,  and  hence  arose  a  mixed  race 
from  which  sprang  bold  adventurers  and  physi¬ 
cally  powerful  men,  who  introduced  everywhere 
a  reign  of  violence  and  terror.  There  has  been 
much  superficial  comment  on  the  so-called  “  Song 
of  Lamech,”  recorded  in  the  genealogy  of  Cain.1 


1  Genesis  iv.  23. 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  87 


It  is  probably  connected  with  the  period  now 
referred  to  in  the  following  manner  : — Lamech 
had  captured  two  Sethite  wives,  and  in  doing  so 
resistance  had  been  made,  in  which  he  had  slain 
a  young  man  who  had  previously  wounded  him. 
He  dreads  blood-revenge,  and  affirms  that  his 
crime  differs  from  Cain’s  in  being  of  the  nature 
of  war  rather  than  of  murder,  and  therefore  less 
criminal.  He  addresses  his  song  to  his  wives, 
probably  lest  they  should  betray  him  to  their 
hostile  kinsmen.  He  has  thus  the  somewhat 
equivocal  credit,  as  I  pointed  out  many  years 
ago,1  of  being  the  first  to  draw  a  distinction 
between  homicide  in  battle  and  mere  murder. 

Thus  immediately  before  the  flood  there  were 
three  divisions  of  humanity,  Sethites  (Beni  ha- 
Adam),  and  Cainites  (Beni  ha-Elohim)  and 
Nephilim  or  metis.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
here  that  in  the  Post-Glacial  or  Palanthropic 
period  also  we  find  in  Europe  three  races,2  that 
of  Truchere,  of  which  only  a  single  example  is 
at  present  known,  presenting  a  medium  stature 
and  mild  features,  and  possibly  representing  the 
Sethites  ;  that  of  Canstadt,  coarse,  robust,  and 
brutal,  and  representing  the  lower  type  of  the 
Cainites  ;  and  the  gigantic  Cro-Magnon  race, 


1  u  Archaiap  i860.  2  Quatrefages ,  “Hommes  Sauvages,”  etc. 


88 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


attaining  sometimes  a  stature  of  seven  feet,  with 
prodigious  muscular  power,  large  brains  and  coarse 
and  massive  features.  In  the  Deluge  history  it 
is  the  Sethites  that  survive,  the  Cainites  and  half- 
breeds  perish.  So  in  the  transition  to  the  Ne- 
anthropic  period,  it  is  the  Truchere  race  that 
survives  and  becomes  the  basis  of  the  Iberian  and 
other  modern  races,  the  Canstadt  and  Cro-Magnon 
types,  as  races,  disappear.  So  far  as  our  informa¬ 
tion  now  extends  the  parallel  is  very  exact.  Thus 
just  as  in  the  case  of  its  geographical  information 
as  to  Eden,  our  old  document  seems  to  be  correct 
in  its  archaeology,  and  asserts  itself  as  a  history 
dating  from  the  earliest  post-diluvian  times. 

Another  curious  note  carries  with  it  a  similar 
conclusion.  Before  the  final  diluvial  catastrophe, 
we  know,  on  the  evidence  of  geology,  that  the 
mild  climate  of  the  early  human  period  which  had 
replaced  the  rigours  of  the  Glacial  Age,  was  begin¬ 
ning  to  relapse  into  a  colder  condition,  an  effect 
possibly  of  partial  subsidence  of  the  land  already 
beginning  to  divert  ocean  currents  and  to  diminish 
the  radiating  surface.  Hence  the  condition  of 
men  was  becoming  less  comfortable,  and  popula¬ 
tion  would  become  concentrated  in  the  milder 
regions,  while  tribes  starved  out  in  the  north  would 
fight  their  way  southward.  This  corresponds  with 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  89 


that  gradual  “  cursing  of  the  ground,”  recognised 
in  the  saying  attributed  to  the  Sethite  Lamech, 
the  father  of  Noah,1  who  hoped  that  in  the  time  of 
his  son  some  amelioration  would  take  place. 

It  thus  appears  that,  as  far  as  yet  known  to  us 
from  geological  investigation,  the  details  of  the 
antediluvian  world  were  present  to  the  mind  of  the 
writers  of  Genesis,  in  a  clear,  definite  and  non- 
mythical  manner,  which  bespeaks  an  early  date 
and  accurate  sources  of  information.  Further, 
they  must  have  been  collected  and  published  by 
one  who  had  exceptional  means  of  access  to  the 
earliest  records  of  the  ancient  Hebrews.  All  this 
points  to  Moses  as  the  probable  possessor  of  the 
records  of  Abraham,  and  the  man  on  whom  of  all 
others  it  was  most  incumbent  to  publish  these 
precious  portions  of  ancient  literature,  in  the  then 
existing  crisis  of  the  history  of  his  people.  Could 
we  enter  on  the  religious  aspect  of  these  chronicles, 
all  this  would  become  more  apparent,  but  here  we 
have  to  do  only  with  their  physical  and  historical 
relations. 

Regarding,  as  we  are  justified  in  doing,  the 
Deluge  as  an  established  event  in  geological 

1  “  This  same  shall  comfort  us  concerning  our  work  and 
toil  of  our  hands,  because  of  the  ground  which  Jehovah  hath 
cursed55  (Gen.  v.  29). 


90 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


history,  and  as  not  a  local  but  a  very  widely 
extended  phenomenon,  we  may  first  ask  under 
what  aspect  it  would  probably  be  presented  to  us 
in  a  Mosaic  version  of  the  ancient  records  of  the 
catastrophe.  It  is  evident  that  on  our  hypothesis 
as  to  the  authorship  of  Genesis,  the  only  human 
evidence  available  to  the  author  must  have  been 
that  of  survivors  ;  and  they  could  testify  merely  to 
the  facts  observed  in  their  own  locality  or  such 
neighbouring  regions  as  might  be  explored  by 
them  after  the  event  If,  as  some  critics  allege, 
the  narrative  in  Genesis  is  made  up  from  two 
sources,  there  must  have  been  at  least  two  lines  of 
history  or  tradition  transmitted  to  later  times  ;  but 
unfortunately  the  evidence  of  this  duplex  history 
is  of  a  very  shadowy  and  uncertain  character.  If 
Moses  were  the  editor,  he  must  have  had  access 
not  only  to  the  records  he  has  handed  down,  but 
to  the  Chaldean  accounts  similar  to  those  dis¬ 
interred  in  our  own  time,  and  to  the  story  of  the 
destruction  of  the  early  Egyptians  by  the  anger  of 
Ra  and  that  of  the  continent  of  Atlantis  by  sub¬ 
mergence  ;  but  he  no  doubt  preferred  the  traditions 
which  came  to  him  from  Hebrew  sources.  In  any 
case,  like  the  Chaldean  legend,  which  professes  to 
have  been  orally  delivered  by  Hasisadra,1  the 


1  Otherwise  called  Um-7iipistim. 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  91 

Babylonian  Noah,  the  story  as  presented  in 
Genesis  is  given  as  that  of  an  eye-witness  or  of 
eye-witnesses. 

This  is  proved  by  a  number  of  details  as  to  the 
voyage  of  the  Ark,  which  could  not  have  been 
otherwise  obtained.  I  may  mention  one  in  parti¬ 
cular — the  statement  that  the  waters  prevailed  to 
the  depth  of  fifteen  cubits  over  the  hills.  This  is 
obviously  the  remark  of  some  one  who  knew  that 
the  water-draft  of  the  Ark  was  about  this  measure, 
and  so  could  testify  that  in  the  course  of  the  drift¬ 
age  it  nowhere  met  with  a  less  depth  of  water. 
We  can  easily  imagine  the  importance  attached  to 
this  fact  by  men  who  felt  themselves  first  moving 
on  the  waves  and  then  drifted  by  a  powerful 
current,  and  who  must  have  dreaded  that  their  un¬ 
manageable  ship  would  ground  somewhere  and  go 
to  pieces.  Other  particulars  of  this  kind  are  the 
note  of  the  time  when  the  Ark  began  to  float  and 
was  observed  to  “  go  ”  upon  the  waters,  the  occur¬ 
rence  of  a  storm  of  wind,  the  ebbing  and  flowing 
of  the  retiring  water,  and  the  time  intervening 
between  the  grounding  of  the  Ark  and  the  general 
drying  up  of  the  soil.  This  form  of  the  record, 
while  it  insures  a  truthful  narrative  in  so  far  as 
human  testimony  extends,  cuts  away  all  those 
objections  which  relate  to  the  extent  of  the 


92 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Deluge,  since  the  narrator  merely  gives  his  per¬ 
sonal  experience  and  is  not  responsible  either  for 
causes  or  universality,  except  as  within  his  own 
observation.  As  it  stands,  and  viewed  as  indivi¬ 
dual  testimony,  the  narrative  is  a  marvel  of  clear 
observation  and  transparent  truthfulness,  and, 
without  any  pretensions  to  science,  affords  many 
data  for  a  comprehension  of  the  real  nature  and 
causes  of  the  flood,  as  well  as  with  reference  to  the 
date  and  origin  of  the  history. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  considera¬ 
tions  are  those  relating  to  the  agencies  employed 
in  producing  the  effects  observed,  more  especially 
as  these  enable  us  at  once  to  get  rid  of  the  entirely 
inadequate  notion  that  the  Deluge  may  have  been 
a  river  inundation,  and  they  also  serve  to  give  us 
some  definite  ideas  of  the  physical  conceptions  of 
man  in  that  remote  period.  We  must  however 
bear  in  mind  that  we  have  before  us  merely  a 
record  of  phenomena,  not  an  investigation  into 
causes.  The  words  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the 
Bible  are  given  thus  : — 

“  On  the  same  day  were  all  the  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
were  opened  ;  and  the  rain  was  upon  the  earth 
forty  days  and  forty  nights.” 

It  may  be  observed  in  passing  that  some  critics 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  93 


separate  this  passage  into  two,  referring  the  two 
earlier  clauses  to  an  Elohist  and  the  last  to  a 
Jehovist  source.  There  seems,  however,  no  better 
warrant  for  this  than  the  supposition  that  the  third 
clause  is  a  repetition  of  the  two  before  it ;  but  this 
we  shall  find  is  impossible.  We  may  therefore 
take  the  whole  as  one  continuous  statement. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  throughout 
the  Old  Testament  the  word  deep  ( tehom )  is  used 
to  denote  the  sea  in  its  widest  and  most  general 
sense.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  a  uni¬ 
versal  ocean  before  the  origin  of  the  continents. 
Afterwards  it  is  still  the  ocean,  but  now  restrained 
by  God’s  “  decree/’  shut  up  with  “  doors,”  or  with 
“bars,”1  or,  as  in  Psalm  civ.  : — 

“Thou  coveredst  it  (the  land)  with  the  deep  as  with  a 
vesture, 

The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains. 

At  Thy  rebuke  they  fled. 

At  the  voice  of  Thy  thunder  they  hasted  away  : 

Ascended  the  mountains,  descended  the  valleys 

To  the  place  which  thou  hadst  founded  for  them. 

Thou  hast  set  a  bound  that  they  may  not  pass  over, 

That  they  return  not  again  to  cover  the  earth.” 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  with  all  the  Bible 
writers  who  refer  to  the  subject,  the  support  of  the 
earth  above  the  waters  is  a  precarious  thing, 


1  Proverbs  viii.  20;  Job  xxxviii.  8--10. 


94 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


depending  solely  on  the  will  of  God  and  capable 
of  being  reversed.  This  is  probably  connected 
both  with  the  creation  record  and  with  that  of  the 
Deluge. 

As  to  the  “  fountains  ”  of  the  great  deep,  the 
word  used  ( mayan )  is  not  that  usually  employed 
for  a  spring  or  fountain,  but  rather  for  a  basin  or 
reservoir.  The  reference  is  probably  the  same 
with  that  in  Job  xxxviii.  1 6,  “  Hast  thou  entered 
into  the  springs1  of  the  sea,  or  hast  thou  walked 
in  the  abysses2  of  the  deep  ?  ”  The  disruption  or 
breaking  up  of  these  fountains  or  reservoirs  can  in 
this  connection  have  no  other  reference  than  to  the 
abrupt  and  violent  suspension  of  that  “  decree  ”  or 
the  opening  of  those  “  bars  ”  and  “  doors  ”  by 
which  the  sea  is  restrained  from  asserting  its  old 
dominion  over  the  land  ;  and  be  it  noted  here  that 
this  is  the  first  and  leading  cause  of  the  Deluge  as 
observed  by  our  narrator,  and  it  accords  with  the 
statement  that  the  Ark  drifted  northward  toward 
the  mountains  of  Armenia,  as  would  be  the  case  if 
the  waters  of  the  Indian  Ocean  were  poured  into 
interior  Asia.  So  much  for  the  first  and  leading 
phenomenon  of  the  Deluge. 

1  Nebek ,  a  word  used  only  in  this  place  and  translated 
ftege  in  the  Septuagint. 

2  Revised  Version,  “recesses.” 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  95 

The  second  is  less  easy  of  explanation.  If 
heaven  means  the  cloud-bearing  atmosphere  as 
defined  in  Genesis  i.,1  the  opening  of  its  hatches 
or  chimneys,  for  the  word  ( aroobbah )  does  not 
designate  a  window  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but 
some  kind  of  roof-opening,  must  refer  to  an 
atmospheric  phenomenon.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  passage  in  Isaiah2  where  the  word 
evidently  refers  to  volcanic  orifices :  “  For  the 
windows  (chimneys  ?)  from  on  high  are  opened 
and  the  foundations  of  the  earth  do  shake.”  That 
seismic  and  volcanic  phenomena  should  accom¬ 
pany  such  a  convulsion  as  the  Deluge  would  be 
very  natural,  and  as  some  of  the  volcanoes  around 
Lake  Van  and  Mount  Ararat  have  been  in 
eruption  in  modern  times,  and,  according  to  Loftus, 
one  of  them  still  emits  heated  vapour  from  its 
crater,3  it  is  not  impossible  that  our  narrator  may 
have  witnessed  such  phenomena,  adding  terror  to 
the  desolation  of  the  flood.4  There  is,  however, 

1  “  And  God  called  the  firmament  heaven.” 

2  Isa.  xxiv.  18. 

3  Journal  Geological  Society ,  vol.  xi.  p.  314. 

4  I  find  a  curious  discussion  of  this  and  other  subjects 
connected  with  the  Deluge  in  a  work  by  Macfadzean,  on  the 
“Parallel  Roads  of  Glenroy,”  Menzies,  Edinburgh,  1882. 
Among  other  things  the  author  suggests  that  the  great  beds 
of  unstratified  gravel  flanking  the  hills  east  of  the  Euphrateo- 


96 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


another  phenomenon  not  unlikely  to  have  been 
present,  which  may  have  attracted  his  attention— 
that  of  the  tornado  or  waterspout.  Appearances 
of  this  kind  seem  to  be  implied  in  the  Chaldaean 
account,  and  the  strong  upward  suction  of  water¬ 
spouts  might  well  be  represented  as  the  opening  of 
chimneys  in  the  sky. 

With  regard  to  the  third  appearance,  the  rain  of 
forty  days,  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  anything, 
except  that  the  word  employed  is  that  used  for  the 
continuous  and  heavy  rain  of  the  rainy  season  ; 
and  that  though  no  doubt  a  striking  and  promi¬ 
nent  appearance,  it  was  rather  an  accompaniment 
of  other  disturbances  than  a  leading  efficient 
cause  of  the  flood. 

I  have  entered  somewhat  fully  into  this  part  of 

the  discussion,  because  so  much  misconception 

seems  to  prevail  among  literary  men  on  the 

subject,  and  because  it  would  be  impossible  to 

assign  either  authorship  or  editorship  to  a  man  of 

the  intellectual  standing  of  Moses,  were  we  to 

attribute  to  our  document  such  crude  and  childish 

views  as  those  connected  with  it  bv  some  of  its 

* 

modern  commentators,  more  especially  by  those 


tigris  valley  may  be  of  diluvial  origin,  in  which  case  they 
would  be  equivalents  of  the  “  Rubble-drift.” 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge  97 


who  would  restrict  it  to  a  local  river  inundation,  an 
occurrence  which  must  have  been  too  familiar  both 
to  the  original  narrator  and  to  Moses  to  permit 
them  to  connect  the  annual  inundation  either  of 
the  Euphrates  or  the  Nile  with  a  world- wide  catas¬ 
trophe. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  it  is  impossible  to  con¬ 
found  the  Deluge  with  a  river  inundation,  it  is 
quite  unnecessary  to  ascribe  to  it  universality  in 
that  absurd  sense  which  would  imply  an  enormous 
addition  to  the  waters  of  the  globe,  sufficient  to 
swamp  all  the  dry  land,  nor  even  in  that  sense 
which  would  imply  a  universal  subsidence  of  the 
continents  or  a  wholesale  elevation  of  the  ocean 
bed.  When  the  narrator  uses  such  universal  terms 
as  “  every  living  thing  was  destroyed  which  moved 
upon  the  ground,”  he  means  universality,  first  in 
the  sense  of  what  he  could  see,  and  secondly  in 
that  of  the  absolute  destruction  of  all  land-life 
•  within  his  ken.  His  personal  knowledge,  by  the 
terms  of  the  narrative,  extended  over  a  territory 
from  the  lower  Euphrates  to  the  highlands  of 
Armenia.  Beyond  this  the  editor  gives  us  no 
other  means  of  judging  than  that  which  we  find  in 
his  account  of  the  dispersion  of  post-diluvian  men 
over  Western  Asia,  Southern  Europe  and  Northern 
Africa,  and  the  inference  that  these  regions  were 

7 


I 


98  Eden  Lost  and  Won 

then  destitute  of  human  inhabitants  ;  though  later 
we  hear  of  certain  mountain  tribes  in  Syria,  the 
Rephaim  and  others,  not  actually  traceable  to  any 
of  these  lines  of  migration,  but  who  may  have 
been  stragglers  in  advance  of  the  main  colonies, 
and  not  recorded.  We  now  know  from  the 
evidence  of  the  later  deposits  of  Europe  and  Asia 
that  the  geological  submergence  corresponding  to 
that  recorded  in  Genesis  was  much  more  extensive 
than  the  limits  deducible  from  the  calm,  judicial 
narrative  of  the  Egyptian  savant  and  prophet. 

We  have  also  in  the  Deluge  a  typical  example 
of  the  usual  character  of  the  miracles  of  the  Mosaic 
books.  It  was  an  unusual  phenomenon  produced 
by  natural  and  physical  causes,  but  under  circum¬ 
stances  which  show  that  it  occupies  a  place  in  the 
higher  sphere  of  the  Divine  government  of  rational 
beings.  The  Deluge  is  the  solution  of  the  problem 
presented  by  a  race  of  men  too  far  gone  in  de¬ 
pravity  to  be  reclaimed,  and  it  is  predicted  to  an 
inspired  prophet.  In  these  senses  it  is  miraculous, 
but  in  its  physical  aspect  it  is  a  submergence  of 
the  land,  resembling  many  that  have  occurred  in 
earlier  ages  before  man  was  upon  the  earth,  and 
differing  from  them  mainly  in  its  comparative 
brevity.  A  great  agnostic  prophet  of  our  time 
tells  us  that  the  sufferings  of  humanity  are  to  be 


99 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge 


alleviated  by  “  the  resolute  facing  of  the  world  as 
it  is,  when  the  garment  of  make-believe  by  which 
pious  hands  have  hidden  its  uglier  features  is 
stripped  off.”  Moses,  with  a  deeper  penetration, 
knows  that  when  men  have  lost  all  touch  of  higher 
and  spiritual  realities,  and  have  devoted  themselves 
entirely  to  the  perishing  physical  “  veracities  ”  of 
the  seen  and  temporal,  a  time  may  come  when  no 
hands,  either  impious  or  pious,  can  save  them  from 
that  utter  destruction  to  which  even  the  unchang¬ 
ing  laws  of  nature  may  be  made  helplessly  to  drive 
them.  I  have  elsewhere 1  treated  of  the  details 
of  the  Deluge,  and  the  superficial  character  of  the 
objections  taken  to  it.  One  of  these  may  deserve 
notice  here,  because  it  is  connected  with  facts  to 
which  attention  has  only  recently  been  directed. 

The  Ark  of  Noah  has  been  a  fertile  source  of 
scoffing,  and  certainly  the  construction  of  such  a 
vessel,  even  though  our  narrator  modestly  calls  it 
a  box  or  chest  and  not  a  ship,  in  this  differing 
from  his  Chaldean  confreres ,  seems  remarkable  at 
so  early  a  date,  though  in  very  ancient  times  the 
Akkadian  literati  did  not  so  regard  it.  But  we 
have  just  learned  from  the  inscriptions  of  King 


1  “Origin  of  the  World,”  Magazine  of  Christum  Litera¬ 
ture,  Oct.,  1890;  Contemporary  Review,  Dec.,  1889. 


IOO 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Gudea  at  Tel-Loh  that  almost  immediately  after 
the  Deluge  men  were  navigating  the  Persian  Gulf 
and  the  Red  Sea,  and  we  have  known  for  some 
time  that  the  Phoenicians,  one  of  the  earliest 
branches  of  emigration  from  the  Lower  Euphrates, 
launched  their  barks  at  once  on  the  Mediterranean. 
Whether,  therefore,  Noah  was  the  first  navigator 
or  not,  the  art  was  not  lost  by  his  successors.  Nor 
have  we  a  right  to  say  that  the  peculiar  name  of 
the  Ark  in  the  Hebrew  record  proceeds  from 
ignorance  of  maritime  affairs- — a  truly  remarkable 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  people  who  had  lived 
in  Lower  Egypt  and  on  the  Coast  of  the  Red  Sea, 
and  afterwards  were  the  nearest  neighbours  of  the 
Phoenicians.  The  term  really  marks  the  primitive 
age  of  the  document.  It  is  deserving  of  notice 
in  this  connection,  that  Jacob  in  his  death-song 
speaks  of  ships  in  connection  with  the  coast  of 
Canaan  (Gen.  iv.,  9),  while  in  Exodus  the  mother 
of  Moses  calls  her  little  basket  of  papyrus,  in 
which  her  child  was  placed  on  the  river,  an  Ark. 
It  was  certainly  not  a  ship  or  boat  ;  but  like 
Noah’s  Ark  a  box  or  basket  coated  with  bitumen, 
and  on  a  small  scale  intended  for  a  similar  pur¬ 
pose.  I  have  in  the  publications  already  referred 
to  shown  that  the  Ark  was  a  refuge  only  for 
selected  kinds  of  animals,  not  for  all  the  animals 


Antediluvians  and  the  Deluge 


IOI 


in  the  world  ;  that  is,  if  we  take  our  idea  of  its 
inmates  from  Genesis  rather  than  from  a  toy 
“  Noah’s  Ark.” 

We  may  safely  predict  that  the  Biblical  history 
of  the  antediluvian  time  and  of  the  Deluge  will  be 
more  and  more  valued  as  knowledge  advances,  and 
that  it  will  be  more  and  more  clearly  seen  that 
it  could  not  have  been  written  or  compiled  later 
than  the  Mosaic  age.  In  the  meantime  one  may 
be  thankful  for  a  record  which  places  those  primi¬ 
tive  and  otherwise  prehistoric  men,  known  to  us 
outside  of  the  Bible  only  by  their  bones  and  im¬ 
plements,  in  rational  and  spiritual  contact  with 
ourselves,  and  renders  their  history  helpful  to  us 
and  to  our  children  in  these  “  last  days.” 


I 


Vi 

THE  DISPERSION  AND  ABRAHAM 


103 


W 


/ 


VI 

THE  DISPERSION  AND  ABRAHAM 

'  S  'HE  narrative  of  the  flood  is  followed  by  some 
religious  and  prophetic  details,  which 
though  valuable  as  the  inauguration  of  a  new  por¬ 
tion  of  the  Divine  programme  with  respect  to  man, 
do  not  so  much  concern  our  present  purpose  as 
the  genealogical  table  of  the  affiliation  and  disper¬ 
sion  of  men  given  in  the  tenth  chapter.  These 
“  Toledoth  ”  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  being  of  the 
nature  of  a  dry  and  condensed  list  of  names,  and 
not  directly  referring  to  the  spiritual  interests  of 
humanity,  are,  of  course,  regarded  as  an  “  Elohist  ” 
document,  though  in  the  only  reference  to  God  in 
the  chapter  He  is  designated  by  the  name 
Jehovah.  We  need  not,  however,  trouble  our¬ 
selves  with  this  distinction,  as  we  shall  find  that 
this,  like  some  other  documents  we  have  been 
studying,  carries  its  date  within  itself. 

The  great  historical  value  of  this  table  is  almost 
universally  admitted,  but  it  has  met  with  some- 


105 


io  6 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


what  unfair  treatment  at  the  hands  of  some  his¬ 
torians  and  archaeologists,  apparently  from  the  cir¬ 
cumstance  that  their  line  of  study  has  accustomed 
them  to  trace  backward  obscure  trains  of  events, 
and  to  infer  the  classification  of  peoples  from 
cranial  and  linguistic  characters.  They  seem  to 
forget  that  an  annalist,  who  is  writing  of  actual 
migrations  occurring  in  his  own  time,  is  on  dif¬ 
ferent  ground  and  must  proceed  in  a  different  way. 
His  statements  are  hence  said  by  them  to  be 
“  ethnographical  rather  than  ethnological  ”  ;  as  if 
a  document  that  can  inform  us  that  certain  people 
of  a  certain  known  lineage  actually  went  to  a  par¬ 
ticular  country  and  settled  there,  could  be  less 
scientific  than  the  inferences  which  a  later  en¬ 
quirer,  entirely  ignorant  as  to  the  actual  facts, 
could  deduce  from  skulls  and  languages.  Our  old 
ethnologist  seems  to  have  foreseen  this  treatment, 
and  takes  care  to  tell  us  four  times  over  that  he 
treats  of  the  descendants  of  Noah  after  their 
known  genealogy,  their  languages,  their  countries, 
and  the  nations  that  proceeded  from  them.  With 
him  all  this  is  a  matter  of  certain  contempor¬ 
aneous  history,  not  of  inference.  Nor  does  any 
later  hand  seem  to  have  added  to  his  work,  for  it 
is  veiy  limited  in  time,  and  takes  no  notice  of  the 
later  migrations,  intrusions  and  mixtures  which 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  107 


we  know  to  have  occurred.  Beginning  with  the 
three  sons  of  Noah — Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth — 
he  takes  them  in  reverse  order,  evidently  because 
he  cannot  trace  the  progeny  of  Japheth  so  far  as 
that  of  the  others,  and  because  his  subsequent  his¬ 
tory  is  to  deal  mainly  with  the  race  of  Shem.  He 
knows  of  seven  sons  of  Japheth  as  founders  of 
tribes  or  nations,  but  he  can  trace  only  two  of 
them  to  the  second  generation,  and  he  can  desig¬ 
nate  their  habitation  only  by  the  vague  term,  the 
“  Isles  ”  (or  the  sea  coasts)  “  of  the  Gentiles,”  mean¬ 
ing  the  northern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 

The  descendants  of  the  four  sons  of  Ham  are 
better  known  to  him.  He  traces  them  for  three 
generations,  mentions  in  some  detail  the  early 
Empire  of  Nimrod,  unless  we  regard  this  as  a 
subsequent  insertion  by  a  so-called  Jehovist  writer, 
and  gives  some  geographical  details  as  to  the 
natives  of  Palestine  and  Northern  Africa. 

The  children  of  Shem  he  traces  in  some  in¬ 
stances  to  the  fourth  generation,  but  disposes 
summarily  of  the  different  lines  except  that  of 
Eber,  preparatory  to  the  more  detailed  account  of 
the  Hebrews  in  the  special  genealogy  of  Shem. 
Here  then  again  we  seem  to  have  a  dated  docu¬ 
ment,  probably  by  a  Semitic  writer,  whose  geo¬ 
graphical  standpoint  may  have  been  in  or  near 


io8 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Shinar,  from  which  he  believes  the  early  migra¬ 
tions  to  have  radiated,  and  his  standpoint  in  time 
toward  the  close  of  the  Nimrodic  Empire,  before 
the  early  conquests  of  the  Elamites,  and  before  the 
movement  of  the  family  of  Abraham  from  Meso¬ 
potamia.  His  latest  note  as  to  this  is  the  two¬ 
fold  division  of  the  family  of  Eber1  into  Pelegites, 
who  went  northward  and  westward  into  Syria  and 
Palestine,  and  Joktanites  who  went  south  to  found 
the  Semitic  tribes  of  Arabia.  His  time  of  writing 
was  after  the  founding  of  the  first  Babylonian  and 
Assyrian  nations,  and  before  the  date  of  the  oldest 
inscriptions  of  Tel-Loh  and  Mugheir.  We  may 
thus  believe  that  his  date,  though  perhaps  a  little 
later,  is  not  very  different  from  that  of  the  “  Jeho- 
vist  ”  who  gives  us  the  description  of  Eden,  and 
whose  position  in  place  and  time  we  have  already 
noticed. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that,  like  the  so-called  Jehovist 
who  precedes  and  follows  him,  the  writer  of 
Genesis  x.  believes  that  the  survivors  of  the 
Deluge  and  their  immediate  descendants  were 
civilized  men,  capable  of  practising  agriculture, 
of  building  cities  and  towns,  and  of  migrating  by 
sea  as  well  as  by  land.  We  may  also  infer  that 

1  The  name  Peleg  refers  to  this  division  (Gen.  x.  25), 
a  division  confirmed  by  Chaldean  records,  according  to 
Pinches. 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  109 


he  regards  the  primitive  language  of  man  in 
Shinar  as  that  Turanian  monosyllabic  tongue 
spoken  and  written  by  the  earliest  Akkadians, 
while  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  languages  were  later 
derivatives,  though  of  very  early  origin.  We  may 
also  fairly  infer  that,  according  to  him,  the  primi¬ 
tive  type  of  man  was  that  of  the  early  Chaldean, 
and  that  the  diverse  characters  which  we  find  so 
early  in  Asia  and  Africa  had  sprung  of  isolation, 
change  of  habits  of  life,  and  unmixed  heredity. 
In  these  short  statements  we  may  sum  up  his 
philology  and  ethnology. 

We  may  now  enquire  as  to  his  facts  respecting 
the  primary  dispersion  of  men,  bearing  in  mind 
that  his  table  of  affiliation  extends  over  only  three 
generations,  and  cannot  be  held  responsible  for 
any  subsequent  movements  or  mixtures  of  nations. 
This  limitation  of  his  range  removes  many  diffi¬ 
culties  which  have  been  conjured  up  by  continuing 
the  record  conjecturally  into  later  times.  It  thus 
happens  that  even  old  writers,  from  Josephus  to 
Bochart,  by  attending  to  the  limit  of  time,  could, 
in  the  main,  understand  his  statements,  though  in 
modern  times  discoveries  in  Chaldea  and  Egypt 
have  thrown  very  important  light  on  some  of  the 
more  difficult  points.1 


1  The  excellent  series  of  racial  types  from  Egypt,  pre- 


I  IO 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


From  our  author’s  point  of  view  there  are 
naturally  three  main  branches,  corresponding  to 
the  three  sons  of  Noah  ;  but  these  branches  are 
not  equal  in  magnitude  or  extension.  In  this  the 
children  of  Ham  take  the  lead,  establishing  the 
first  empire  and  giving  off  three  main  streams  of 
migration.  Japheth  comes  next  with  two  main 
lines  of  colonization  ;  Shem,  though  spread  east, 
west,  and  south,  seems  to  move  more  slowly,  and 
to  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  Hamites,  whom  in 
many  places  he  supplants. 

Ham  obviously  represents  that  vast  assemblage 
of  people  whom  ethnologists  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  naming  Turanian.  The  language  of  the 
early  Akkadian  empire  of  Chaldea  was  of  Tura¬ 
nian  type,  and  with  this  the  features  of  the  earliest 
rulers  represented  by  the  monuments  correspond. 
The  faces  of  these  men,  while  somewhat  triangular 
and  sometimes  with  oblique  eyes,  strongly  re¬ 
semble  those  of  the  earlier  Egyptians  and  the 
Punites  of  Southern  Arabia  as  well  as  the  Lapps, 
Chinese,  and  Japanese.  Our  author  does  not  tell 
us  of  their  settlements  in  Northern  and  Western 
Europe,  and  in  Northern  and  Eastern  Asia,  which 


pared,  by  Prof.  Petrie  for  the  British  Association,  is  of  great 
value,  and  also  the  figures  found  by  De  Sarzac  at  Tel-Loh. 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  iii 


may  not  have  been  peopled  so  early.  He  gives, 
however,  some  detail  as  to  other  lines  of  migration. 
One  of  these  is  to  the  south-west  along  the  Persian 
Gulf  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  thence  to  the  Upper 
Nile.  This  was  the  line  of  the  Cushites  and  their 
allies,  and  while  the  early  settlements  of  Cush  were 
in  Chaldea  the  name  ultimately  became  localized 
in  Africa.  A  second  branch,  that  of  Mizraim, 
made  its  way  to  Lower  Egypt,  the  Mazor  or  Misr 
of  all  subsequent  history.  A  third  stretched  from 
the  Persian  Gulf  and  the  Valley  of  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  thence  the 
Phcenicians  or  Canaanites  took  to  the  sea  and 
“  were  scattered  abroad,”  at  the  same  time  acquir¬ 
ing  a  language  of  Semitic  type.  We  may  remark 
here  that  the  early  monuments  both  of  Chaldea 
and  Egypt  show  that  these  primitive  Hamites 
were  not  negroid,  though  some  of  them  were  dark, 
and  classed  by  the  Egyptians  among  the  black 
races.  If  negro  races  are  included  in  the  record, 
they  appear  only  as  the  descendants  of  Put  or 
Phut,  a  name  which  may  have  referred  to  negro 
nations  lying  to  the  south  of  Egypt ;  but  the 
majority  of  the  Hamites  were  not  black  or  with 
negroid  features,  and  it  is  certain  that  at  a  very 
early  period  they  became  intermixed  both  with 
the  Japhetic  and  Semitic  tribes.  Of  the  two 


I  12 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


lines  of  travel  assigned  to  the  sons  of  Japheth, 
one  runs  northward  to  the  regions  bordering  the 
Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian,  the  other  westward 
along  the  south  coast  of  Europe,  the  coasts  or 
isles  of  the  Gentiles,  constituting  the  Greek  and 
allied  races  of  the  northern  side  of  the  Medi¬ 
terranean. 

For  the  family  of  Shem,  we  have  at  this  early 
time  no  very  extensive  geographical  distribution. 
Asshur  represents  the  early  Assyrians,  who  bor¬ 
rowed  letters  and  many  of  the  arts  of  life  from 
the  Chaldeans,  whose  empire  they  eventually  sub¬ 
verted.  Elam  represents  an  early  and  formidable 
nation  in  the  hill  country  of  Western  Persia. 
Aram,  Arphaxad,  and  Lud,  occupied  the  Upper 
Euphrates  and  regions  adjoining  as  far  as  Asia 
Minor,  and  portions  of  Palestine,  mixing  there 
with  the  Canaanites.  Joktan  went  southward  and 
mingled  with  the  Hamites  in  Arabia. 

It  is  evident  that  this  affiliation  of  nations 
belongs  to  an  early  date,  and  extends  over  only 
a  limited  area  of  the  old  continent,  which  con¬ 
stitutes  the  known  world  of  the  author.  This 
world  extends  from  the  Euphratean  Plain  to 
Persia  on  the  one  hand,  and  Greece  on  the  other, 
and  from  the  Black  Sea  on  the  north  to  the 
Upper  Nile  on  the  south.  It  includes  the  world 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraka?n  113 


as  known  to  the  earliest  Chaldeans  and  Egyptians, 
probably  the  whole  peopled  world  of  the  time, 
unless  in  the  case  of  roving  tribes,  who  had 
moved  beyond  the  ken  of  the  more  central  com¬ 
munities.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  regarded 
with  this  limitation,  all  modern  research  has  vin¬ 
dicated  its  accuracy,  and  where  it  seems  to  be  con¬ 
tradictory  to  ethnological  facts  this  has  been  found 
to  depend  upon  later  intrusions  and  mixtures. 
It  would  require  a  volume  with  many  pictorial 
illustrations  to  give  the  evidence  in  full  of  this 
statement  ;  but  this  can  be  obtained  in  many 
commentaries  and  historical  books.  A  summary 
of  the  main  facts,  though  with  some  errors  and 
omissions,  will  be  found  in  Sayce’s  little  work, 
“  The  Races  of  the  Bible.”  1 * * * 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  early  date  of  this 
document,  and  the  notes  of  an  historical  character 
interspersed,  and  which  might  be  supposed  to  be 
later  additions,  all  keep  within  the  same  time¬ 
limits.  The  writer  never  by  any  chance  shows 
the  least  knowledge  of  the  subsequent  history  of 


1  Religious  Tract  Society.  Bochart’s  “Phaleg”  is  still  of 

great  value,  and  Lenormant’s  “  Manual  of  Early  Oriental 

History5’ and  “  Beginnings  of  History 55  are  useful.  Eadie’s 

“Early  Oriental  History”  has  a  useful  summary,  also 

Delitzsch’s  Commentary  on  Genesis. 


8 


1 14  Eden  Lost  and  Won 

the  peoples  to  whom  he  refers.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  to  imagine  a  later  writer  persevering  in 
such  reticence.  Even  in  the  previous  episode  of 
the  prediction  in  very  general  terms  of  the  future 
destiny  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  this  is  given  as  a 
prophecy  by  the  patriarch,  not  as  historical  fact ; 
and  the  history  as  given  in  the  tenth  chapter 
shows  no  indication  of  its  fulfilment,  but  rather 
the  contrary,  in  the  early  dominance  and  expan¬ 
sion  of  the  Hamites. 

The  prominence  given  to  the  early  Cushite  and 
Asshurite  nations  on  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris 
are  also  very  characteristic  of  an  early  date.  It 
now  appears1  that  we  may  safely  identify  Nimrod 
with  the  Chaldean  hero-hunter  Gisdubar,  a  usurper 
who  subverted,  as  far  as  the  Cushites  were  con¬ 
cerned,  the  old  patriarchal  rule  by  a  military 
despotism,  and  seems  to  have  introduced  a  new 
priestly  system  in  the  form  of  Shamanism.  This 
is,  I  think,  the  interpretation  we  should  give  to  his 
alliance  with  his  friend  and  adviser  Heabani,  who 
is  represented  pictorially  as  a  man  with  the  horns, 
feet,  and  tail  of  a  bull,  and  hence  has  been  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  altogether  a  mythical  personage  ;  but 


1  H-ommel,  Proceedings  Society  of  Biblical  Archaeology , 
1893,  pts.  1,  6,  7. 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  115 


if  we  take  this  as  intended  for  his  official  garb, 
he  assumes  the  guise  of  an  American  medicine¬ 
man.  It  is  quite  likely  that  a  similar  explanation 
applies  to  many  of  the  so-called  demons  and 
genii  of  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  sculptures,  and 
that  the  Chaldean  magi  were  originally  Shamans. 
If,  in  addition  to  all  this,  Merodach  the  later  tu¬ 
telar  god  of  Babylon,  is  a  deification  of  Nimrod,1 
we  see  that  Moses  had  good  reason  to  preserve 
and  hand  down  to  succeeding  times  the  old  story 
of  the  Nimrodic  Empire. 

We  may  note  here  that  there  is  a  remarkable 
absence  from  these  documents  of  the  race  preju¬ 
dices  and  hatreds  which  arose  from  later  conflicts, 
except  perhaps  in  the  one  instance  of  Noah’s 
prophecy.  All  the  great  branches  of  humanity 
are  alike  to  our  annalist,  except  in  so  far  as  con¬ 
cerns  the  religious  destiny  of  Shem,  and  that 
enlargement  of  Japheth  which  only  modern  times 
have  seen  fully  realized.  In  this  connection 
we  must  not  forget  that  Moses  was  in  a  better 
position  than  we  are  to  realize  the  actual  facts 
of  the  dispersion  of  mankind.  Independently  of 
the  Abrahamic  documents  to  which  he  had  access, 


1  Sayce  has  argued  in  favour  of  this  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archcpology ,  vol.  xi. 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


1 1 6 


we  know  that  centuries  before  his  time  the  geo¬ 
graphy  and  ethnology  of  the  regions  covered  by 
Genesis  x.  were  well  known  in  Egypt.  To  this 
both  the  Egyptian  monuments  and  the  Tel-el- 
Amarna  tablets  testify.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  Egyptians  regarded  themselves  as  distinct 
from  and  superior  to  the  other  races  of  men. 
This  idea  must  have  sunk  deeply  into  the  minds 
of  the  Hebrew  slaves  during  the  long  reign  of 
Rameses  IL,  and  they  must  have  greatly  needed 
the  facts  stated  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  chapters 
of  Genesis  to  raise  them  to  a  conception  of  their 
equality  with  their  lordly  masters,  who  we  know 
regarded  themselves  as  little  less  than  gods,  and 
the  Hebrews  as  well  as  the  mixed  multitude  which 
we  find  allied  with  them,  as  altogether  inferior 
races.  There  was  no  later  phase  in  the  history 
of  Israel  in  which  such  ideas  were  so  much 
needed.  With  their  sequel  in  the  story  of  the 
Exodus  they  were  indeed  promulgated  in  Genesis 
for  all  time,  wherever  there  has  been  the  tyranny 
of  race  over  race,  or  slaves  to  be  freed.  They 
are  echoed  in  the  wild  chant  of  the  negroes  at 
the  time  of  the  American  Civil  W ar : — 

“  Oh  go  down,  Moses, 

Way  down  in  Egypt’s  land, 

Tell  King  Pharaoh 
To  let  my  people  go.” 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  1 1 7 


But  their  first  and  great  occasion  was  the  libera¬ 
tion  of  the  Hebrews  under  Moses. 

I  do  not  propose  here  to  take  up  the  tempting 
philological  problems  of  the  Tower  of  Babel,  but 
may  remark  that  its  significance  also  is  Mosaic 
and  Exodic.  It  teaches  the  primitive  unity  of 
man  on  his  new  departure  after  the  flood,  that 
dispersion  and  national  differences  are  parts  of 
the  Divine  plan,  though  direct  results  of  human 
ambition  and  love  of  aggrandizement ;  and  that 
the  great  cities  and  magnificent  temple-towers, 
whether  of  Egypt  or  Babylon,  are  not  necessarily 
connected  with  the  Divine  favour,  but  may  be 
monuments  of  an  idolatry  oppressive  to  man  and 
hateful  to  God.  Thus  the  catastrophe  of  Babel 
was  distinctly  in  furtherance  of  the  mission  of 
Moses,  which  looked  forward  to  a  kingdom  of 
God  and  restitution  of  all  things,  in  which  the 
edict  of  national  dispersion  would  be  revoked. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  more  of  the 
fortunes  of  those  early  nations  which  migrated 
from  Shinar ;  but  our  historian,  bridging  over  the 
intervening  space  with  a  mere  genealogical  list, 
passes  at  once  to  a  different  sphere  in  time,  the 
age  of  Abraham  and  his  contemporaries.  Great 
political  changes  had  occurred  in  the  meantime. 
The  kingdom  of  Nimrod  had  been  broken  up 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


1 18 


into  smaller  states.  The  warlike  people  of  the 
Elamite  mountains,  under  their  king,  Kudar  Nan- 
kundi,  a  predecessor  of  Kudar  Lagamar,  the 
Chedorlaomer  of  Abraham’s  time,  had  invaded 
the  lowlands  and  reduced  them  to  subjection,  and 
had  even  pushed  their  conquests  as  far  as  the 
eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.1  At  one 
time  the  adventure  of  Abraham  with  the  five 
kings  from  the  East,  recorded  in  Genesis  xiv., 
being  vouched  for  only  by  the  Bible,  was  regarded 
as  mythical ;  but  now  we  have  it  confirmed  by 
contemporary  inscriptions  as  well  as  by  the  later 
records  of  the  Assyrian  kings,  who  invaded  Elam 
and  restored  to  Babylonia  idols  which  had  been 
captured  by  the  Elamites  ages  before.  Thus  this 
fragment  of  ancient  history  is  authenticated  by 
modern  discovery,  and  proves  to  have  been  a 
contemporary  record,  for  no  subsequent  writer  up 
to  recent  times  was  likely  to  have  met  with  it. 
Nor  is  the  insertion  of  this  episode  in  the  history 
of  Abraham  unnecessary  or  gratuitous.  It  points 
to  the  origin  of  the  first  movement  of  the  family 
of  Abraham  from  Ur,  before  he  received  his 
divine  commission,  and  to  that  probably  enforced 
division  of  the  Semites  from  which  Peleg  got  his 

1  Pinches  has  recognised  the  names  of  Chedorlaomer, 
Tidal,  and  Arioch  in  contemporary  inscriptions. 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  119 

name.  It  serves  also  to  point  out  the  embryo 
condition  at  that  time  of  nations  at  a  later  date 
great  and  populous,  to  indicate  the  wide  extent 
of  their  movements,  and  to  illustrate  the  character 
and  position  of  the  patriarch  himself. 

Tomkins,  in  his  “  Studies  on  the  Times  of  Abra¬ 
ham,”  has  well  illustrated  many  of  these  points  ; 
but  some  singular  confirmations  of  the  history 
have  appeared  since  the  publication  of  that  work. 
One  of  the  most  curious  of  these  is  a  letter  of  the 
king  of  Jerusalem,  whose  name  has  been  read 
Ebed-tob,  to  King  Amenophis  IV.  of  Egypt,  in 
the  Tel-el-Amarna  tablets.  This  letter  shows  that 
Salem  or  Jerusalem  was  a  very  ancient  city,  that  it 
had  a  temple  of  a  god  recognised  as  the  Most 
High,  that  its  ruler  was  a  priest-king,  supposed  to 
be  appointed  by  the  oracle  of  the  god  himself. 
Ebed-tob  must  have  lived  nearly  two  hundred 
years  after  Abraham,  but  his  letter  fully  confirms 
the  notice  of  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  in 
Genesis,  and  the  much  later  inferences  from  it 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  There  is  on  the 
other  hand  reason  to  believe  that  before  the  time 
of  Moses,  Salem  had  fallen  into  other  hands,  and 
that  its  people  had  lapsed  from  that  purer  faith 
with  which  Abraham  had  fraternised.  Here 
again  we  have  reference  to  historical  facts  which 


120 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


had  become  obsolete  even  in  the  time  of  Moses, 
and  certainly  must  but  for  him  have  fallen  out  of 
sight  in  later  times. 

An  eminently  Mosaic  and  most  graphic  picture 
in  the  life  of  Abraham  is  that  of  the  overthrow  of 
the  Cities  of  the  Plain.  It  stands  forth  in  ancient 
literature  as  a  unique  description  of  a  bitumen 
eruption,  a  kind  of  catastrophe  to  which  the  valley 
of  the  Lower  Jordan,  from  its  geological  structure, 
was  eminently  subject,  and  of  which  we  have  an 
account  that  even  now  we  could  scarcely  have 
understood,  were  it  not  for  the  destructive  acci¬ 
dents  of  a  similar  kind,  but  on  a  smaller  scale, 
which  have  occurred  in  the  petroleum  districts  of 
North  America.  I  have  fully  discussed  this  catas¬ 
trophe  in  an  article  on  the  “  Physical  Causes  of 
the  Destruction  of  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,”  in  the 
Expositor}  Everything  here  is  natural,  even  to 
the  final  encrusting  of  the  remains  of  Lot’s  wife 
in  the  saline  mud  which  accompanies  eruptions  of 
this  kind.  It  bears  evidence  at  once  of  the  testi¬ 
mony  of  a  contemporary,  and  of  the  careful  diction 
of  a  man  of  scientific  training,  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  knowledge  displayed  in  this 
episode  exceeds  anything  that  existed  between 


1  January,  1886,  also  “Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands.” 


The  Dispersion  and  Abraham  121 


the  science  of  ancient  Egypt  and  that  of  our  own 
time. 

But  this,  it  may  be  said,  was  a  miracle.  True, 
but  it  was  a  miracle  of  the  Mosaic  type.  It  is  a 
natural  occurrence,  but  one  rare  and  exceptional, 
and  rendered  miraculous  by  its  association  with 
divine  justice  and  with  moral  and  spiritual  things. 
Had  the  great  eruption  of  Krakatoa,  or  that  of  the 
hot  springs  of  New  Zealand  in  our  own  time,  been 
predicted  beforehand,  and  connected  with  the  ini¬ 
quities  of  men  who  were  “sinners  before  Jehovah 
exceedingly,”  and  had  heavenly  messengers  been 
sent  to  deliver  righteous  people  from  these  cala¬ 
mities,  they  would  have  been  miraculous,  precisely 
to  the  same  extent  in  which  the  destruction  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  was  miraculous. 

Here  we  have  another  dated  document  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  if  edited  by  Moses  ; 
and  that  it  could  not  have  belonged  to  more  recent 
times  is  rendered  evident  by  the  myths,  exaggera¬ 
tions  and  absurdities  which  have  been  heaped 
around  it  by  later  commentaries  belonging  to 
ages  of  comparative  ignorance,  and  of  which  no 
trace  can  be  found  in  the  original  record.  It 
would  be  invidious  as  well  as  unnecessary  to  give 
references.  Instances  abound  everywhere  in  an¬ 
cient  and  modern  literature.1 


1  I  may  say  here  that  the  tendency  of  writers  on  Scrip- 


122 


Eden  Lost  and  Wo7t 


The  moral  lessons  of  this  narrative,  and  the 
interest  of  Lot  in  it  would  insure  its  preservation 
among  the  records  of  Abraham,  and  it  would 
commend  itself  to  the  lawgiver,  who  insisted  so 
strenuously  on  the  punishment  of  sin  in  this  world. 
It  was  left  for  Christ  to  show  that  in  the  judgment 
to  come  greater  guilt  will  attach  to  the  rejection 
of  His  loving  message  of  salvation,  than  to  any 
iniquity  chargeable  against  the  wicked  inhabitants 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

We  must  reluctantly  pass  over  the  times  of 
Isaac,  Jacob  and  Joseph,  which  are  replete  with 
interesting  proofs  of  our  thesis,  and  must  go  on  to 
the  Exodus,  in  the  account  of  which,  if  our  hypo¬ 
thesis  is  correct,  we  shall  find  Moses  writing  of  the 
events  of  his  own  time,  and  in  which  he  himself 
played  a  great  part. 

tural  subjects  to  show  their  research  by  gathering  around 
Bible  history  fables  of  every  kind  which  have  been  connected 
with  it,  is  most  hurtful  to  the  interests  of  truth.  The  retail¬ 
ing  of  Arab  and  mediaeval  legends  about  Nimrod  and  the 
“  Dead  Sea,”  which  one  finds  even  in  modern  commentaries, 
are  cases  in  point. 

Sayce  and  Pinches  have,  while  these  pages  are  in  the 
press,  adduced  some  curious  additional  confirmations  from 
Assyria  of  the  contemporaneous  date  of  the  history  of 
Abraham  in  Genesis.  See  Co?itemporary  Review,  October, 
1895. 


VII 

THE  EXODUS 


28 


VII 


THE  EXODUS 


HE  Book  of  Exodus,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 


main  stem  of  the  Pentateuch,  that  to  which 
its  roots  in  Genesis  converge,  and  that  which 
supports  its  branches,  foliage  and  fruit  in  Num¬ 
bers,  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy.  Everything  in 
Genesis  has  its  end  and  object  in  the  emigration 
from  Egypt,  and  the  Exodus  itself  is  that  which 
sustains  the  historical  fabric  of  the  law  and  the 
conquest  The  whole  thus  constitutes  one  grand 
symmetrical  literary  structure,  linked  with  con¬ 
temporary  historical  facts,  and  constituting  the 
basis  of  Christianity  itself.  This  great  event  may 
therefore  form  a  suitable  termination  to  this  part 
of  our  discussion. 

Modern  discoveries  have  enabled  us  to  place  the 
Exodus  more  satisfactorily  than  heretofore  in  con¬ 
nection  with  contemporary  Egyptian  and  Pales¬ 
tinian  history,  and  to  appreciate  every  step  of  the 
march  of  Israel  in  search  of  liberty.  Formerly 


126 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


this  was  difficult,  in  consequence  of  the  unsettled 
state  of  Egyptian  chronology  and  want  of  topo¬ 
graphical  information,  while  our  Biblical  historian 
is  careless  even  of  the  personality  of  the  rulers  of 
Egypt.  To  the  writer  of  Genesis  and  Exodus 
they  are  collectively  merely  Pharaoh,  just  as  we 
now  speak  of  the  Czar,  the  Sultan  or  the  Khedive, 
with  scarcely  a  thought  of  the  individual  name  of 
the  potentate  in  question.  The  historian  of  the 
Exodus  is  fortunately  more  particular  as  to  topo¬ 
graphy,  and  the  careful  surveys  of  modern  times 
have  enabled  us  to  follow  his  footsteps  in  a  manner 
impossible  at  any  previous  period  between  the 
Exodus  itself  and  the  present  day.  The  inscrip¬ 
tions  and  other  records  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  dynasties  are  also 
coming  forward  in  a  remarkable  manner  in  aid 
of  the  comparative  chronology. 

We  may  select  a  few  facts  bearing  on  questions 
of  place  and  date,  in  evidence  of  the  contention 
that  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Exodus  is  a  con¬ 
temporary  of  the  events  he  describes,  and  that 
his  chronology  and  topography  are  confirmed 
by  modern  investigation.  Miracles  indeed  now 
thicken  upon  us  as  compared  with  the  narratives 
in  Genesis  ;  and  this  to  some  minds  gives  a 
mythical  air  to  the  narrative  with  which  they 


The  Exodus 


12  7 


are  associated,  simple  and  natural  though  it  is  in 
itself.  It  is,  however,  in  the  great  critical  periods 
of  nations  and  of  the  world  that  such  deviations 
from  ordinary  uniformity  become  most  necessary 
and  reasonable  ;  but  in  Exodus  they  are  wonders 
of  the  true  Mosaic  type,  mostly  effected  by  natural 
means,  and  described  in  a  manner  to  show  accu¬ 
rate  observation  of  facts. 

Naville’s  discovery  of  the  site  of  Pithom  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Wady  Tumilat  leading  from 
the  Nile  to  the  ancient  head  of  the  Red  Sea,  and 
the  further  identification  of  Gesen  and  the  City 
Rameses  at  the  western  end  of  the  same  valley, 
have  fixed  the  point  of  departure  of  the  Israelites 
and  the  earlier  stages  of  their  journey.  The  fact 
ascertained  by  its  structure  and  inscriptions,  that 
Pithom  was  a  store  or  arsenal  city  built  by  the 
great  Egyptian  king  Rameses  II.  has  established 
the  time  of  the  oppression.  The  evidence  that 
Pithom  and  Heroopolis  were  one  and  the  same, 
and  that  this  city  was  near  the  northern  end  of 
the  Red  Sea,  then  extending  all  the  way  to  Lake 
Timsah,  removes  a  number  of  geographical  doubts, 
so  that  we  may  now  proceed  with  some  confidence 
in  our  enquiry  as  to  the  facts,  whether  physical  or 
historical. 

A  preliminary  question  is  that  of  the  time  of  the 


128 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


sojourn  of  Israel  in  Egypt,  and  I  am  glad  to  see 
that  attention  has  been  directed  to  this  point  in 
the  Expositor  of  December,  1893.1  Those  who 
have  read  that  article  will  easily  comprehend  the 
following  facts. 

To  a  cursory  reader  of  Genesis  and  Exodus  in 
the  English  versions,  the  period  of  the  sojourn 
in  Egypt  seems  to  have  been  400  or  430  years. 
In  Genesis  xv.  the  prediction  to  Abraham  runs 
thus :  “  And  he  said  unto  Abram,  Know  of  a 
surety  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger  in  a  land 
that  is  not  theirs,  and  shall  serve  them;  and  they 
shall  afflict  them  four  hundred  years.”  Here  it  does 
not  at  first  appear  to  the  reader  that  the  period  of 
400  years  covers  not  merely  the  affliction  but  the 
whole  sojourn,  though  this  is  evidently  the  inten¬ 
tion.  In  Exodus  xii.  40  and  41  the  termination 
of  the  period  is  given  with  great  precision  as 
follows:  “Now  the  sojourn  of  the  children  of 
Israel  who  dwelt  in  Egypt 2  was  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end 
of  the  four  hundred  and  thirty  years,  even  the 
selfsame  day  it  came  to  pass  that  all  the  hosts  of 


1  “  The  Sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,”  by  the  Right 
Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 

2  R.V.  changes  this  for  the  worse. 


The  Exodus 


1 29 


the  Lord  went  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt”  Here 
again  the  sojourning  is  that  in  Canaan,  as  well  as 
in  Egypt  This  we  learn  in  three  ways  :  (1)  the 
genealogical  lists  in  the  same  book  show  that  the 
residence  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt  from  the  time 
of  the  immigration  of  Jacob  extended  only  about 
216  years  ;  (2)  the  Septuagint  translation,  to 
remove  what  seemed  an  ambiguity,  or  perhaps 
because  their  manuscripts  were  different  from  ours, 
add  the  words  “  and  in  the  land  of  Canaan  ”  ;  and 
this  is  just  the  sort  of  question  on  which  we  should 
specially  value  the  authority  of  the  Septuagint  ; 
(3)  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch  agrees  with  the 
Septuagint ;  (4)  Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala¬ 
tians  states  the  whole  period  from  the  covenant 
with  Abraham  to  the  giving  of  the  law  at  430 
years.  We  are  thus  enabled  to  conclude  that  the 
date  so  minutely  given,  even  to  a  day,  in  Exodus 
xii.  may  be  reckoned  from  the  entry  of  Abraham 
into  Canaan,  and  that  the  period  of  430  years 
covers  the  whole  of  the  sojourning  which  was  to 
be  the  lot  of  his  posterity  till  their  return  to 
Canaan  as  a  conquering  nation.  This  enables 
us  also  to  see  in  this  chronology  the  hand  of 
Moses.  It  was  not  his  mission  to  regard  the 
Israelites  as  merely  the  descendants  of  an  immi¬ 
grant  Syrian  chief  who  had  come  into  Egypt 

9 


130 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


about  two  centuries  previously,  but  to  direct  his 
people  to  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  and  to 
have  them  regard  the  whole  of  the  sojourning, 
whether  in  Canaan  or  in  Egypt,  as  one  episode  in 
their  history,  to  be  terminated  by  their  possessing 
the  promised  land.  To  Moses  the  oppression  is 
merely  the  means  of  obliging  Israel  to  fulfil  its 
divinely  ordained  destiny,  which  it  must  fulfil 
whether  Pharaoh  and  the  Egyptians  are  friendly 
or  hostile. 

This  wide  grasp  of  the  situation  which  many 
even  of  modern  writers  fail  to  take,  befits  the  mind 
of  the  great  Hebrew  leader  and  the  divine  impulse 
that  animated  him.  Paul,  actuated  by  the  same 
spirit,  takes  the  same  view.1 

Some  important  historical  conclusions  hang  on 
this  question.  Those  who  regard  the  430  years 
as  the  time  of  the  residence  in  Egypt,  are  obliged 
to  place  the  entry  of  Joseph  into  that  country  in 
the  reign  of  one  of  the  foreign  invaders  known 
as  the  Hyksos  or  Shepherd  kings,  before  the 
eighteenth  Egyptian  dynasty,  thereby  raising 
a  host  of  difficulties,  such  as  the  unlikelihood  of 


1  For  an  excellent  summary  of  the  evidence  in  favour  of 
the  shorter  chronology,  I  may  refer  to  Dr.  Kellog’s  Lectures 
on  “Abraham,  Moses  and  Joseph,”  New  York,  1887. 


The  Exodus 


131 

the  land  of  Goshen  being  open  to  occupation 
by  the  Israelites,  the  incongruity  of  a  hatred  of 
shepherds  on  the  part  of  the  invaders,  who  were 
themselves  shepherds,  the  thoroughly  native  sur¬ 
roundings  of  Joseph  in  the  history,  and  the 
impossibility  of  the  Israelites  having  escaped  being 
involved  in  the  fierce  and  destructive  warfare 
between  the  native  Egyptians  and  the  Hyksos, 
ending  in  the  expulsion  of  the  latter.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  shorter  date,  say  of  215  to  218 
years,  brings  the  deportation  of  Joseph  into  the 
later  part  of  the  reign  of  Thothmes  III.,  the 
greatest  king  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  which 
succeeded  the  Hyksos,  a  king  whose  character  and 
relations  with  Syria  and  its  tribes  fit  in  thoroughly 
with  the  Mosaic  narrative,  as  do  the  subsequent 
events  of  Egyptian  history  up  to  the  Exodus. 
We  cannot  look  on  the  benevolent  yet  sagacious 
countenance  of  Thothmes,  as  represented  on  his 
statues,  without  feeling  that  he  was  a  man  likely 
to  patronize  Joseph,  and  we  know  that  his  imme¬ 
diate  successors,  the  Amenhoteps,  were  friendly 
to  Semitic  peoples.  Were  it  possible  to  devote 
one  of  these  chapters  to  the  life  of  Joseph,  all  these 
points  could  be  fully  illustrated  with  great  benefit 
to  our  comprehension  of  the  history  of  the  great 
Hebrew  minister,  which  has  been  disjointed  in  its 


l32 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


historical  aspect  by  the  leaning  of  Egyptologists 
to  the  longer  date. 

It  is  noteworthy  here  that  on  the  correct 
chronology  the  two  fine  obelisks  from  On  or 
Heliopolis,  now  in  London  and  New  York,  must 
have  been  set  up  in  the  time  of  Joseph,  and  by 
his  patron,  Thothmes  III.,  whose  inscription  occu¬ 
pies  the  central  and  original  lines  on  the  four 
faces.  The  lateral  lines  were  added  by  Rameses 
II.,  the  oppressor  of  the  Israelites,  who  “knew 
not  Joseph.”  Thus  these  obelisks,  so  strangely 
transferred  to  the  chief  cities  of  the  two  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  are  monuments  of  two  epochs  when 
Hebrew  and  Egyptian  history  came  closely  into 
contact. 

One  other  little  point  is  too  tempting  to  be 
passed  by.  In  the  twenty-third  and  following 
years  of  his  reign,  Thothmes  III.  invaded  Pales¬ 
tine,  defeating  its  allied  kings  at  Megiddo,  and 
reducing  them  to  the  condition  of  tributaries.  He 
inscribed  a  list  of  the  tributary  tribes  on  the 
temple  of  Karnak,  where  it  still  exists,  and  has 
been  copied  and  compared  with  the  Semitic 
names  of  places  and  tribes  in  Palestine.1  Among 
the  names  are  two  which  have  been  read,  “Jacob 

1  See  Maspero  and  Tomkins,  Transactions  of  Society  of 
Biblical  Archaeology,  and  Transactio?is  Victoria  Institute. 


The  Exodus 


x33 


El,”  and  “Joseph  El,”  the  first  near  Hebron,  the 
second  farther  north, — the  addition  of  the  name 
of  God  (El)  to  the  names  being  supposed  to  in¬ 
dicate  a  special  religious  aspect,  or  to  be  similar 
to  what  we  see  in  such  names  as  Israel  and 
Ishmael.  This  is  inexplicable  to  those  who  hold 
to  the  long  period,  because  on  that  theory  the 
migration  of  Jacob  to  Egypt  must  have  occurred 
about  two  centuries  before  the  campaign  of 
Thothmes,  and  such  names  could,  in  that  case, 
be  only  survivals  from  an  earlier  date,  a  very 
unlikely  supposition  in  the  circumstances.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  correct  chronology,  all  fits  into 
place.  Jacob  must  have  settled  in  Egypt  about 
the  fortieth  year  of  Thothmes  III.  In  the  twenty- 
third  year  of  Thothmes  he  was  still  in  Canaan. 
Further,  we  learn  from  Genesis  that  he  had 
divided  his  tribe  and  his  flocks  into  two  bands, 
one  at  Hebron,  the  other  as  far  north  as  Dothan  ; 
and  Genesis  also  intimates  that  he  had  already 
promoted  Joseph,  though  then  a  mere  boy,  over 
his  brothers  ; 1  so  that  one  of  the  divisions  might 
be  known  as  that  of  Jacob,  the  other  as  that  of 
Joseph.  We  may  even  suppose  that  the  brothers 
in  charge  of  the  Shechem  or  Dothan  flocks  may 


1  The  “  coat  of  many  colours  ”  is  a  proof  of  this. 


x34 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


have  purposely  named  them  as  Joseph’s,  that  he, 
if  he  were  to  be  promoted  over  them,  might  share 
in  the  ignominy  of  subjection  to  Egypt  and  in  the 
loss  of  the  tribute  payment.  In  any  case  we 
can  readily  understand  the  officers  of  Thothmes 
registering  the  two  divisions  of  the  tribe  of  Jacob, 
or  Israel,  in  this  way.1  Further,  when  Jacob 
afterwards  went  to  Egypt,  he  could  be  represented 
as  already  a  vassal  of  the  Pharaoh,  and  merely 
changing  his  habitation  from  one  part  of  his 
dominions  to  another.  Had  Jacob  known  of  those 
lists  of  Thothmes  which  remain  to  our  own  time, 
he  could  have  referred  to  this  relation.  At  the 
same  time,  the  recent  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos 
must  have  left  much  land  in  Lower  Egypt  open 
to  occupation  by  the  Israelites.  Thus,  what  in 
one  view  of  the  chronology  is  an  insoluble  enigma 
becomes  a  remarkable  coincidence.  All  this  must 
have  been  well  known  to  Moses  and  his  contem¬ 
poraries,  but  was  not  likely  to  be  known  to  Israel¬ 
ites  in  later  times.  It  would  seem  indeed  as  if 
even  such  native  authorities  as  Manetho  were 
mistaken  as  to  these  matters.  The  inscriptions 
of  Thothmes  remain,  however,  to  tell  their  tale. 


1  At  the  time  of  the  Exodus,  also,  the  northern  site  was 
assigned  to  the  posterity  of  Joseph  as  properly  theirs. 


The  Exodus 


135 


In  like  manner  our  shorter  chronology  brings 
the  advent  of  the  king  who  knew  not  Joseph  to 
the  time  of  Horus  or  Seti  I.,  the  earliest  kings 
of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  who  are  known  to  have 
been  hostile  to  the  Semitic  proclivities  of  the 
later  kings  of  the  preceding  dynasty.  It  brings 
the  height  of  the  oppression  into  its  proper  place 
in  the  long  reign  of  Rameses  II.,  and  the  Exodus 
into  one  of  the  short  reigns  which  succeeded  ; 
while,  as  we  shall  see,  it  makes  the  Exodus  itself 
one  factor  in  the  obscure  ending  of  the  great 
nineteenth  dynasty,  and  its  replacement  by  the 
twentieth. 

It  has  been  objected  to  the  shorter  chronology 
that  it  does  not  give  time  for  the  multiplication 
of  the  Israelites  to  the  millions  of  the  Exodus. 
But  we  are  not  to  limit  the  tribe  of  Jacob  to 
the  threescore  and  ten  souls  of  his  family.  If 
Abraham  could  muster  three  hundred  and  eighteen 
fighting  men  “  born  in  his  own  house,”  the  tribe 
of  Jacob  could  scarcely  have  been  less  numerous, 
and,  besides,  we  are  told  that  the  increase  of  the 
Israelites  in  Egypt  was  exceptional  (like  that  of 
some  communities  in  Western  America  in  recent 
times),  and  many  foreigners  must  have  attached 
themselves  to  them  in  the  time  of  their  prosperity. 

It  was  at  one  time  supposed  that  Egyptian 


i36 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


history  gave  no  account  of  the  Exodus,  and 
Manetho  would  seem  to  have  confused  this  event 
with  the  expulsion  of  the  Hyksos  ;  but  the  certain 
identification  of  the  Pharaoh  of  the  oppression 
with  Rameses  II.,  and  of  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
Exodus  with  the  last  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty, 
removes  this  defect.  A  later  king,  Rameses  III., 
belonging  to  the  twentieth  dynasty,  has  left  us 
an  autobiographical  sketch,  now  known  as  the 
great  Harris  Papyrus,  and  in  the  introduction  to 
this  he  narrates  the  causes  which  brought  Setnekt, 
his  father,  to  the  throne  as  the  founder  of  a  new 
dynasty.  This  introduction  has  been  translated 
by  Eisenlohr,  Brugsch,  Birch,  and  Chabas.1  The 
translations  differ  somewhat  in  their  details,  but 
are  summed  up  by  Birch  in  the  following  state¬ 
ment  : 2  “  The  interval  between  Siptah,  the  last 
king  of  the  nineteenth  dynasty,  and  Setnekt  (the 
first  king  of  the  twentieth)  was  one  of  much  distur¬ 
bance.  From  the  great  Harris  Papyrus  it  appears 
that  a  great  exodus  took  place  from  Egypt.  In 
consequence  of  the  troubles  for  many  years  it  says 
there  was  no  master.”  It  also  makes  mention  of 
one  Arisu  or  Areos,  a  Syrian,  as  a  leader  in  these 

1  Transactions  of  Society  of  Biblical  Archeology,  vol.  i. 
“  Records  of  the  Past,”  vol.  viii. 

2  “History  of  Egypt,”  p.  186. 


The  Exodus 


137 


disturbances.  In  other  words,  within  about  twenty 
years  of  the  close  of  the  long  and  pretentious,  if 
not  glorious,  reign  of  Rameses  II.,  the  nineteenth 
dynasty  came  to  an  end  in  disaster  and  anarchy, 
out  of  which  arose  a  new  dynasty.  As  to  the 
details  of  this  revolution  there  are  no  doubt  some 
differences  of  opinion  ;  but  I  think  the  majority 
of  Egyptologists  will  accept  the  following  general 
statements.  Rameses  II.  died  after  a  reign  of 
sixty-seven  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  one  of 
his  sons,  Meneptah,  who  was  somewhat  aged 
before  his  accession,  and  seems  to  have  reigned 
only  eight  years.  The  principal  event  of  his  reign 
is  an  incursion  of  Lybians  and  others  from  the 
West,  which  was  repelled  ;  but  his  annals  contain 
no  mention  of  any  rebellion  of  slaves  in  Egypt. 
He  seems  to  have  died  peacefully,  and  to  have 
been  buried  with  his  fathers.  Nevertheless,  he 
has  been  often  regarded  as  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
Exodus  ;  but  this  probably  arises  from  confound¬ 
ing  him  with  one  of  his  successors  who  has  the 
same  or  a  very  similar  name.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Seti  II.,  or  Seti  Meneptah.  His  reign 
also  was  short,  probably  only  four  years,  and  he 
seems  either  to  have  been  slain  in  civil  strife  or 
to  have  had  to  flee  to  Ethiopia,  a  usurper, 
Amenmes,  of  whom  little  is  known,  apparently 


138  Eden  Lost  and  Won 

taking  his  place.  He  was  replaced  by  the  legiti¬ 
mate  line  in  the  persons  of  Siptah  or  Siptah 
Meneptah  1  and  his  queen  Ta-user.  After  reign¬ 
ing  seven  years,  Siptah  disappears  mysteriously, 
leaving  an  unoccupied  tomb,  afterwards  plastered 
over  and  occupied  by  his  successor,  and  apparently 
no  heir  who  could  succeed  him,  as  his  queen 
Ta-user  is  reckoned  by  Manetho  as  the  last 
sovereign  of  the  dynasty.  At  this  time  occurred 
the  great  Exodus  and  the  anarchy  referred  to  in 
the  Harris  Papyrus.  Whether  the  Arisu  of  the 
papyrus  represents  the  leader  of  the  Exodus  or 
an  invader  who  took  advantage  of  the  anarchy,  is 
not  yet  certainly  known.  In  any  case,  out  of  the 
anarchy  arose  Setnekt,  or  Set  the  victorious,  the 
founder  of  the  twentieth  dynasty.  Rameses  III., 
an  able  and  successful  ruler,  was  his  son  ;  and  it 
was  in  his  reign  that  the  Harris  Papyrus  was 
written.  That  Siptah  was  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
Exodus  is  rendered  probable  by  his  sudden  dis¬ 
appearance  while  still  a  young  man  or  in  the 
prime  of  life,  by  his  unoccupied  tomb,  by  the 
attempted  regency  of  his  queen,  and  by  the 
anarchy  which  followed.  I  may  add  that  Siptah, 
as  photographed  by  Petrie  from  a  bas-relief  on 


1  Possibly  a  brother  of  Seti  II. 


The  Exodus 


139 


his  tomb,  shows  the  fine  features  of  Rameses  II., 
his  grandfather,  but  cast  in  a  weaker  mould.  He 
may  have  been  as  proud  as  Rameses  II.,  but 
without  his  force  of  character,  and  is  altogether 
such  a  person  as  we  should  expect  in  the  haughty, 
petulant,  yet  vacillating  ruler  with  whom  Moses 
negotiated,  and  whose  weak  character  was  har¬ 
dened  by  God  to  his  destruction. 

On  the  above  view  the  comparative  chronology 
of  the  life  of  Moses  will  stand  thus  : — 


Birth  of  Moses  :  38th  year  of  Rameses  II. 

Flight  of  Moses  to  Midian  :  78th  year  of  Rameses  II. 

Moses  in  Midian,  41  or  42 
years,  or,  allowing  for 
overlaps  and  preliminaries 
of  Exodus,  40  years. 


Moses  returns,  Exodus  : 
Israel  in  the  Wilderness 
40  years. 


18  last  years  of  Rameses  II. 

8  years  of  Meneptah. 

^  3  or  4  of  Seti  II. 

5  of  Amenmes. 

7  of  Siptah. 

Last  year  of  Siptah. 

Anarchy  and  Setnekt. 

30  years. 

Rameses  III.,  10  years. 

Israel  enters  Canaan  10th  year  of  Rameses  III.,  and  only 
one  or  two  years  after  his  successful  raid  into  Palestine, 
in  which  he  weakened  the  Hittites  and  other  tribes 
preparatory  to  the  conquest  by  Joshua.1 

This  remarkable  parallelism  of  events,  rendered 
in  the  highest  degree  probable  by  the  most  recent 


1  He  was  perhaps  the  “Hornet”  referred  to  in  Exodus 
xxiii.,  Deut.  vii.,  and  Joshua  xxiv.  ;  for  the  hornet  or  wasp 
was  the  emblem  of  Lower  Egypt. 


140 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


discoveries,  strengthens  the  conviction  that  in  the 
early  chapters  of  Exodus  we  are  dealing  with 
contemporary  annals,  and  with  the  autobiography 
of  the  great  law-giver. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  topography  of  the 
earlier  part  of  the  Exodus,  that  we  may  note  the 
geography  as  well  as  the  chronology  of  our  author. 
The  traveller  who  journeys  by  the  railway  from 
Cairo  to  Ismailia,  taking  with  him  a  good  map 
of  the  district,  can  appreciate  at  a  glance  the 
character  and  position  of  the  land  of  Goshen  and 
the  facilities  for  exit  to  the  East  by  the  Wady 
Tumilat.  This  strip  of  fertile  land,  stretching 
across  the  desert,  was  originally  the  channel  of 
a  branch  of  the  Nile  flowing  eastward  into  the 
Red  Sea,  which  then  extended  along  the  depres¬ 
sion  of  the  old  Bitter  Lakes,  nearly  or  quite  to 
Lake  Timsah.  Even  before  the  time  of  Moses, 
the  gradual  silting  up  of  the  sea  and  the  slight 
changes  of  level  which  this  region  has  undergone 
had  rendered  it  necessary  to  improve  the  outlet 
by  artificial  canalisation,  a  process  continued  and 
extended  at  intervals  down  to  the  present  time, 
when  the  Sweetwater  Canal  irrigates  the  valley 
and  carries  the  Nile  water  as  far  as  Suez.  This 
beautiful  valley  and  a  tract  at  its  western  end, 
rich  in  corn  lands,  pasturage  and  date  palms, 


The  Exodus 


141 


constituted  the  districts  of  Rameses  or  Goshen 
on  the  West  and  of  Thukot  or  Succoth  on  the 
East.  Of  the  former  the  capital  was  Rameses, 
of  the  latter  Pithom.  Both  were  fortified  towns, 
built  by  Rameses  II.  with  the  forced  labour  of 
the  Hebrews  and  of  foreign  captives,  in  order  to 
form  arsenals  for  his  armies  on  their  march  to 
his  eastern  expeditions,  and  to  keep  in  check  the 
discontented  Israelitish  population. 

If  now  we  read  the  twelfth  to  the  fifteenth 
chapters  of  Exodus  with  this  topography  before 
us,  we  find  ourselves  in  presence  of  the  following 
stages  of  the  Exodus  : — 

(1)  The  Israelites,  gathering  at  and  near  Ra¬ 
meses,  where  a  large  body  of  them  was  probably 
ordinarily  stationed.  The  Egyptian  Court  may 
at  the  time  have  been  in  Rameses  itself  or  at 
Bubastis,  or  at  Zoan  on  the  north,  or  may  have 
been  alternately  in  these  different  cities. 

(2)  Negotiations  going  on  between  the  Israel¬ 
ites,  through  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  the  Pharaoh, 
respecting  the  desired  permission  to  go  into  the 
desert  to  sacrifice.  In  these  negotiations  neither 
party  was  desirous  to  push  matters  to  extremity  ; 
because  if  the  Israelites  were  to  move  without 
permission,  they  would  expose  themselves  to  de¬ 
struction  by  the  Egyptian  army,  and  the  king  was 


142 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


reluctant  to  provoke  a  servile  war  which  might 
lead  to  invasion  from  the  East,  while  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  his  own  position  at  home 
was  not  very  secure.  Besides  this,  Moses,  as  an 
old  statesman  of  the  time  of  the  Great  Rameses, 
was  “  as  a  God  ”  to  Pharaoh,  so  great  was  his 
prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  Egyptians  and  the 
young  king.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Pharaoh’s 
heart  was  hardened  against  any  concession. 

(3)  At  length,  through  a  succession  of  calami¬ 
tous  plagues,  conveying  a  strong  impression  of  the 
Divine  anger  against  the  ruler  of  Egypt,  the 
resolution  of  the  king  is  broken  and  he  allows  the 
slaves  to  go.  They  have  been  prepared  for  this, 
and  depart  in  haste,  as  if  thrust  out,  and  no  doubt 
anxious  to  place  themselves  out  of  the  reach  of 
pursuit  in  case  the  fickle  Pharaoh  should  change 
his  mind. 

(4)  Their  route  is  not  by  the  direct  desert  way 
to  the  north-east  (the  way  of  the  Philistines),  but 
eastward  along  the  Wady  Tumilat,  the  same  route 
now  followed  by  the  railway  and  pursued  by 
Wolseley  in  his  memorable  campaign. 

(5)  Passing  through  the  land  of  Rameses,  they 
reach  Succoth,  of  which  Pithom  was  the  capital, 
and  encamp  within  its  boundaries,  somewhere  be- 
ween  Tel-el-Kebir  and  Pithom.  They  next  pro- 


The  Exodus 


143 


ceed  eastward  to  Etham,  on  the  edge  or  border 
of  the  desert,  and  again  encamp.  If  we  ask  the 
precise  place  of  this  second  encampment,  it  may, 
I  think,  be  easily  determined.  Three  miles  east 
of  Pithom  the  fertile  valley  widens  into  the  oasis 
of  Abu-suer,  beyond  which  the  desert  rises  in 
stages  of  hard  gravel  and  sand  with  one  sand-hill 
90  feet  high,  commanding  an  extensive  view  both 
to  the  west  and  east  as  well  as  to  the  south.  Here 
they  would  find  plentiful  pasturage  and  water, 
could  watch  the  approach  of  any  pursuing  force, 
and  could  gather  in  stragglers,  or  those  who  had 
been  tardy  in  following.  From  this  place,  by 
passing  to  the  north  of  the  present  Lake  Timsah, 
only  four  miles  distant,  a  direct  route  through  the 
desert  to  Palestine  was  open  to  them. 

(6)  But  now  by  Divine  direction  they  swerve 
from  this  direct  way  of  escape,  and  turn,  at  right 
angles  to  their  former  course,  to  the  south  ;  ap¬ 
parently  delivering  themselves  into  the  hands  of 
their  enemies,  who,  aware  of  the  movement,  at 
once  enter  into  pursuit  and  come  up  with  the 
retreating  Israelites  somewhere  on  the  shore  of 
that  northward  extension  of  the  Red  Sea  then 
reaching  past  the  old  Bitter  Lakes.1 


1  Now  again  submerged  by  the  Canal. 


144 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


(7)  They  were  to  encamp  before  Pi-hahiroth, 
between  Migdol  and  the  Sea,  over  against  Baal- 
Zephon,1  a  very  precise  designation  of  locality  if 
we  could  discover  the  three  points  given.  We 
may  perhaps  identify  Pi-hahiroth  with  a  place 
about  18  miles  from  Pithom  and  on  the  shore 
of  the  sea,  known  to  the  Egyptians  as  Pi-kerehet. 
This  is  Naville’s  identification,  who  however  sup¬ 
poses  the  place  to  be  Jebel  Mariam,  only  14  miles 
from  Pithom.  It  was  more  likely  farther  down,  at 
or  near  the  place  now  called  the  Serapium  near 
the  old  Bitter  Lakes.2  Migdol,  or  the  watch  tower, 
I  am  inclined  to  regard  as  a  natural  feature,  most 
probably  Jebel  Shebremet,  a  northern  outlier  of 
the  Geneffeh  hills,  though  there  may  have  been  an 
Egyptian  fort  at  this  place.  Baal-Zephon  seems 
to  have  been  a  mountain  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  sea,  perhaps  the  northern  peak  of  Jebel  er 
Rabah,  which  would  correspond  with  its  name 
“  The  Lord  of  the  north.”  My  own  conclusion, 
based  on  a  careful  consideration  of  the  strategic 
features  of  the  ground,  was  that  the  place  of 
crossing  was  near  the  south  end  of  the  old  Bitter 


1  Exodus  xiv.  1,  2. 

2  The  term  Pi-kerehet  implies  that  the  place  had  a  temple 
of  Serapis. 


The  Exodus 


145 


Lakes  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  pass  between 
Jebel  Shebremet  and  the  sea.  Naville  prefers  a 
more  northern  locality ;  but  after  reading  his  latest 
exposition  of  his  views  in  his  address  to  the  Vic¬ 
toria  Institute  (1893),  I  am  inclined  to  adhere  to 
my  original  opinion.1  The  difference  however 
amounts  to  only  a  few  miles  in  the  place  of  cross¬ 
ing,  and  leaves  the  main  facts  unchanged  ;  though 
Naville’s  view  implies  bad  generalship  on  the  part 
of  Moses,  or  that  Pharaoh  came  upon  his  flank 
earlier  than  one  would  infer  from  the  Biblical 
narrative  or  than  was  probable  in  the  circum¬ 
stances. 

Th,ese  points  being  premised,  we  may  now  ask 
the  question  how  they  agree  with  our  supposition 
that  the  history  is  the  testimony  of  a  witness  of 
the  events,  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the 
country  and  aware  of  all  the  conditions,  Divine 
and  human,  under  which  the  movement  was  to  be 
effected. 

That  the  people  should  not  proceed  by  the  short 
northern  route  “  the  way  of  the  Philistines  ”  was  an 
obvious  dictate  of  prudence.  It  passed  near  im¬ 
portant  fortified  towns,  and  would  lead  to  a  direct 
and  immediate  conflict  with  a  powerful  military 

1  Reasons  are  stated  in  detail  in  “  Modern  Science  in 
Bible  Lands.” 


10 


146 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


nation.  On  the  other  hand,  the  route  by  the 
Wady  Tumilat  was  in  the  first  instance  through  a 
practicable  and  well-watered  country,  inhabited  by 
a  friendly  population,  and  with  no  fortified  place 
other  than  Pithom.  All  went  well  accordingly 
with  the  fugitives,  till  they  arrived  at  Etham  1 
on  the  edge  of  the  wilderness,  and  on  the  eastern 
boundary  of  Succoth.  Here,  if  they  pursued  a 
straight  course,  they  had  before  them  a  desert 
journey  of  several  days  in  which  Pharaoh  was  not 
likely  to  follow  them,  but  at  the  end  of  which 
they  might  expect  to  meet  hostile  Canaanites. 
But  why  turn  at  this  point  and  place  the  Red  Sea 
between  themselves  and  safety  ?  The  immediate 
reason  is  said  to  have  been,  not  dread  of  the 
wilderness  or  of  the  hostile  Canaanites,  but  to 
induce  Pharaoh  to  follow  to  his  own  destruction. 
In  other  words,  it  was  placing  an  army  in  a  posi¬ 
tion  of  difficulty  in  order  to  provoke  an  attack. 
The  objects  to  be  gained,  if  successful,  would  be 
to  incapacitate  the  Egyptians  from  farther  pursuit, 
to  gain  prestige  in  the  opinion  of  all  the  neigh- 


1  Etham  has  been  supposed  to  be  a  defensive  wall  or 
fortress,  but  Naville  is  probably  right  in  identifying  it  with 
a  district  at  the  edge  of  the  desert,  named  Atuma  by  the 
Egyptians.  The  “  edge  ”  or  border  of  the  desert  is  at  this 
place  very  well  defined. 


The  Exodus 


147 


bouring  nations,  and  to  be  in  a  position  to  lie  over 
for  a  time  in  the  peninsula  of  Sinai  to  organize 
before  attempting  the  conquest  of  Palestine.  Still 
it  was  a  bold  and  dangerous  movement,  even 
admitting  that  the  Red  Sea  was  known  on  certain 
rare  and  exceptional  occasions  to  be  fordable  near 
Pi-hahiroth.  We  can  readily  believe  that  this  was 
Divine  rather  than  human  strategy,  and  that  only 
a  strong  faith  in  the  guidance  of  God  could  induce 
any  leader  to  attempt  it. 

After  exploring  the  country  around  Ismailia 
and  toward  the  site  of  old  Pithom,  and  south 
toward  Suez,  I  placed  myself  one  evening  on  the 
rising  ground  between  Ismailia  and  the  site  of 
Pithom,  near  to  where  the  Etham  encampment 
probably  was,  and  endeavoured  to  realize  the 
thoughts  and  plans  of  the  leader  of  Israel.  He 
had  already  had  some  experience  of  the  confusion 
and  difficulty  of  the  march  of  the  host  and  the 
mixed  multitude  ;  and  casting  his  eye  anxiously 
westward,  may  have  seen  crowds  of  stragglers, 
loiterers,  and  new  recruits  struggling  to  reach  the 
camp,  and  to  find  their  appropriate  places,  and 
may  have  thought  of  the  consequences  of  a  charge 
of  Egyptian  chariots  against  the  rear  of  such  a 
body,  encumbered  with  every  kind  of  impedimenta 
and  without  regular  organization.  Looking  east 


148 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


he  could  see  the  long  stretches  of  desert  over 
which  the  way  lay  to  the  promised  land,  yellow 
and  dreary,  with  few  wells,  and  with  predatory 
tribes  to  embarrass  his  movements.  The  moment 
was  an  anxious  one,  for  next  day  must  commit 
them  to  the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  desert 
journey,  though  it  might  free  them  from  the  risk 
of  immediate  pursuit  on  the  part  of  Pharaoh.  The 
intimation  of  the  Divine  will  that  the  host  must 
move  southward,  may  have  been  a  relief  in  the 
circumstances,  though  how  it  would  result  was  a 
matter  of  faith.  Looking  in  this  direction,  the 
leader  could  see  the  whole  region  as  far  as  the 
steep  high  ridge  of  Jebel  Attaka  forty  miles 
distant.  In  the  foreground  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Wady  spread  out  into  a  plain,  partly  watered  and 
cultivated,  but  affording  no  protection  to  the  flank 
of  the  marching  multitude,  should  Pharaoh  pursue 
and  attack  them.  At  the  distance  however  of 
fifteen  miles  the  conical  mass  of  Jebel  Shebremet 
jutting  from  the  Geneffeh  range  closes  in  the  plain 
to  a  narrow  pass  ; 1  and,  once  there,  a  pursuing 
chariot  force  could  strike  only  the  rear  of  the  host, 
and  this  in  a  narrow  space  which  might  be  de- 

1  I  think  Shebremet  itself  was  the  Migdol  of  the  narrative ; 
but  there  may  have  been  a  watch-tower  or  post  on  the 
mountain  to  protect  the  pass. 


The  Exodus 


149 


fended  against  it.  So  far  the  position  of  affairs 
was  plain,  all  beyond  was  uncertain.  We  may  be 
sure,  however,  that  the  camp  was  raised  as  early  as 
possible  in  the  morning,  and  that  a  push  was  made 
to  occupy  the  Migdol  or  Shebremet  pass  in  time 
to  protect  the  people  from  any  attack  in  the  rear. 

Egyptian  scouts  must  have  dogged  the  march, 
for  the  change  of  direction  was  no  sooner  made 
than  it  was  known  to  Pharaoh,  and  his  immediate 
resolve  was  to  take  advantage  of  the  movement. 
So  rapidly  were  his  arrangements  made,  that 
his  chariot  force,  forming  the  van  of  his  army, 
and  probably  led  by  Siptah  himself,  made  its 
appearance  in  the  evening,  while  the  wearied 
Israelites  were  preparing  to  pitch  their  tents  by 
the  side  of  the  sea  near  Pi-hahiroth,  and  were 
possibly  settling  a  rear-guard  across  the  pass  to 
protect  them  through  the  night.  But  the  sight 
of  the  broad  line  of  advancing  chariots  struck 
terror  into  the  people,  and  apparently  banished  all 
thought  of  resistance.  The  despair,  the  reproach 
of  Moses  for  bringing  them  into  this  strait,  his 
attempt  to  encourage  them  to  stand  fast,  the  cry¬ 
ing  of  Moses  to  the  Lord,  and  the  final  order  to 
go  forward  into  the  sea,  are  all  vividly  pictured 
in  Exodus  xiv.,  as  by  the  pen  of  an  actor  in  the 
scene.  But  the  Egyptians  did  not  at  once  attack. 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


150 

The  hour  was  late  and  the  pass  was  narrow,  and 
the  cloudy  pillar  in  rear  had  some  terrors  for  them, 
though  it  failed  to  give  courage  to  the  Israelites. 
In  the  meantime,  by  a  Divine  arrangement  in 
favour  of  the  fugitives,  one  of  those  strong  north¬ 
east  winds,  which  at  some  seasons  course  along 
the  Red  Sea  valley,  drove  out  the  ebb-tide  so  as 
to  leave  a  practicable  passage  across,  just  as  in 
modern  times,  before  the  construction  of  the  canal, 
a  precarious  crossing  could  sometimes  be  effected 
at  low  tide  above  Suez.  Moses  is  directed  to 
cause  Israel  to  advance  into  the  sea.  It  was  no 
holiday  procession.  They  were  wearied  with  a 
day’s  march  and  in  the  midst  of  preparations  to 
encamp.  Beaten  with  the  wind  and  drenched  with 
the  rain,  they  had  to  descend  in  darkness  into  the 
muddy  sea-bottom,  and  painfully,  and  we  may  be 
sure  with  many  fears,  to  make  their  way  across. 
Dread  of  the  pursuers  no  doubt  lent  speed  to  their 
movements,  and  it  may  have  been  a  somewhat 
tumultuous  and  hurried  flight.  They  crossed  in 
safety,  and  as  the  morning  dawned  on  them  they 
must  have  experienced  that  great  revulsion  of  feel¬ 
ing  to  which  voice  was  given  in  the  impromptu 
song  of  Moses  and  the  chorus  of  Miriam  and  her 
companion  maidens. 

In  the  meantime  the  Egyptians,  puzzled  perhaps 


The  Exodus 


1 5 1 


at  first  with  the  noise  and  commotion  among  the 
fugitives,  discovered  towards  morning  what  had 
happened,  and  rushing  forward  in  pursuit,  plunged 
into  the  sea-bed,  which  they  hoped  might  still  give 
them  time  to  cross.  But  they  were  engulfed  in 
the  swiftly  returning  waters.1  So  perished  Siptah 
Meneptah,  his  best  officers,  and  the  finest  chariot 
force  in  the  world.  Egypt  was  left  without  a  king, 
without  the  flower  of  its  army,  and  without  its  ser¬ 
vile  population,  and  became  a  prey  to  the  anarchy 
and  confusion  incident  to  so  sudden  and  unex¬ 
pected  a  revolution.  Jehovah  had  triumphed 
gloriously.  Pharaoh’s  chariots  and  his  host  He 
had  cast  into  the  sea.  His  “chosen  captains” 
were  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  We  could  not  be 
certain  from  the  history  or  the  song  that  Pharaoh 
himself  perished  :  perhaps  the  narrator  himself  did 
not  certainly  know  this  ;  but  the  empty  and 
usurped  tomb  in  the  valley  of  the  kings  at  Thebes 
now  tells  the  story. 

We  may  not  trace  further  the  march  to  Sinai. 
This  has  been  admirably  done  in  the  report  of  the 
Ordnance  Survey  with  its  beautiful  maps  and 


1  The  extreme  rise  of  spring  tides  at  Suez  is  nine  feet — an 
amount  quite  sufficient  to  produce  a  destructive  “bore”  in 
the  circumstances  referred  to. 


152 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


photographs,  and  has  been  well  followed  up  by  the 
late  Mr.  E.  H.  Palmer,  in  his  work  the  “  Desert  of 
the  Exodus,”  in  which  he  ably  sums  up  the  conclu¬ 
sions  of  the  Survey  as  proving  for  all  time  that  the 
narrative  of  the  Exodus  must  have  been  written 
by  an  observant  and  highly  intelligent  contempo¬ 
rary. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  where  Moses 
becomes  his  own  biographer  ;  and  here  every  sen¬ 
tence  bears  witness  to  his  hand,  his  head,  and  his 
heart,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  most  obtuse  can 
scarcely  fail  to  see  the  evidence  of  his  authorship. 
It  is  true,  however,  now  as  of  old  that  they  who 
will  not  hear  Moses  and  the  prophets  would  not  be 
persuaded  if  one  should  rise  from  the  dead,  even 
though  the  risen  one  should  be  Christ  Himself. 

Under  the  preceding  headings  we  have  dis¬ 
cussed  the  bearing  of  natural  facts  on  the  author¬ 
ship  of  the  five  books  of  Moses,  and  a  still  more 
extensive  subject  would  be  the  bearing  of  natural 
facts  on  the  contents  of  these  books  in  detail. 
Single  departments  of  this  enquiry  might  afford 
the  material  of  volumes,  and  some  of  them  I  have 
treated  of  elsewhere.1  I  may  here  select  one, 


1  “The  Origin  of  the  World,”  “  Modern  Science  in  Bible 
Lands.” 


The  Exodus 


T53 


because  it  admits  easily  of  separate  treatment,  and 
because  it  has  been  somewhat  neglected,  though 
of  paramount  importance  in  reference  to  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  the  Pentateuch  to  the  New  Testament 
and  to  Christianity.  I  refer  to  the  “  Fall  of  Man,” 
as  connected  with  the  past  history  and  present 
condition  of  the  world,  and  with  the  predictions  of 
a  future  deliverance  from  the  effects  of  this  great 
and  far-reaching  calamity. 


PART  II 

Man  and  Nature,  Fallen  and  Restored 


VIII 

MAN  PRIMEVAL 


155 


VIII 


MAN  PRIMEVAL 


HE  problem  of  absolute  creation  is  at  present 


insoluble,  and  may  always  remain  so.  Lotze 
well  suggests  that  in  some  sense  this  must  be  the 
case  under  any  imaginable  conditions.  If  we  sup¬ 
pose  a  naturalist,  whether  agnostic  or  theistic,  to 
have  actually  witnessed  the  first  emergence  into 
being  of  low  forms  of  life  in  the  primeval  waters, 
we  cannot  suppose  that  he  would  see  any  manipu¬ 
lation,  or  hear  any  command.  He  might  perceive 
the  appearance  of  living  animals  where  there  were 
none  previously,  but  by  what  means  inorganic 
atoms  had  been  induced  to  arrange  themselves  in 
protoplasmic  molecules,  how  they  were  enabled  to 
shape  themselves  into  organs,  and  how  these  be¬ 
came  endowed  with  life,  would  be  as  inscrutable 
to  the  actual  spectator  and  as  much  a  matter  of 
inference  as  they  can  be  to  us.  If  an  agnostic,  the 
witness  of  the  fact  might  at  once  say,  “  This  is  an 
example  of  purely  spontaneous  generation  of  an 


157 


158  Eden  Lost  and  Won 

accidental  or  fortuitous  character.”  If  a  theist,  he 
might  say,  “  This  is  the  finger  of  God  ”  ;  but  the 
evidence  for  one  view  or  the  other  would  be  exactly 
what  it  is  to-day.  Even  if  we  were  to  suppose  a 
biologist  to  be  a  witness  of  the  origination  of  man 
from  the  dust  of  the  ground  or  from  inorganic 
molecules,  or  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  were  to  wit¬ 
ness  the  production  of  a  human  child,  however 
imperfect,  from  an  anthropoid  mother  of  however 
advanced  type,  he  would  have  no  clue  to  any 
merely  material  or  physical  explanation  of  the 
phenomenon.  In  either  case  he  could  not  see  the 
manner  of  the  Divine  action  nor  account  for  the 
results  by  mere  necessity  or  chance.  In  point  of 
fact,  whatever  forms  of  words  we  may  invent  to 
conceal  our  ignorance,  we  are  no  nearer  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  this  great  problem  than  was  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  when  he  said, 
“  By  faith  we  perceive  that  the  ages  were  consti¬ 
tuted  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  things  seen 
(tcl  /3\e7 To/ievd),  were  not  made  out  of  physical 
appearances  (e/c  ^acvofiivcov).1  In  accordance  with 
this,  the  late  Sir  Richard  Owen,  when  pressed  by 
a  friend  to  state  his  views  as  to  the  introduction 
of  life,  wrote,  “  As  I  do  not  know  the  secondary 


1  Chap.  xi.  v.  3. 


Man  Primeval 


T  59 


cause  by  which  it  may  have  pleased  the  Creator  to 
introduce  organized  species  into  this  planet,  I  have 
never  expressed  orally  or  in  print  any  opinion  on 
the  subject.”  1 

But  though  the  actual  fact  of  creation  may  thus 
be  as  much  unknowable  as  the  essence  of  God 
Himself,  the  laws  and  conditions  of  such  an  occur¬ 
rence  are  not  unknown,  and  in  the  case  of  man  we 
may  ascertain  certain  of  these  conditions  which 
have  been  fulfilled  in  his  appearance  on  the 
earth.  These  may  be  stated  here  shortly,  and  as 
received  results  of  scientific  inquiry,  without  any 
elaborate  proof  or  illustration,  except  in  regard  to 
certain  accessory  points. 

(1)  Man  is  not  known  among  the  earliest  of 
animals  in  point  of  time,  but  appears  only  after 
for  vastly  extended  periods,  living  things  of  lower 
types  had  existed,  and  after  the  continents  of  the 
earth,  with  their  mountains,  plains,  rivers,  and 
climatal  conditions,  had  been  brought  by  long  and 
complex  physical  processes  very  nearly  into  their 
present  condition. 

(2)  Man  thus  appeared  at  a  time  when  the 
earth  was  already  stocked  with  plants  of  the 
highest  rank  and  with  the  highest  grades  of  merely 


1  “  Biography,”  vol.  i.,  chap,  x.,  p.  309. 


i6o 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


animal  life.  Nay,  there  is  good  geological  reason 
to  believe  that  at  the  time  of  his  first  appearance 
the  land  was  more  richly  peopled  with  plants  and 
animals  than  it  is  at  the  present  day,  for  there 
has  certainly  been  extinction  of  many  important 
species  since  the  beginning  of  the  human  period, 
without  a  corresponding  introduction  of  new  forms 
in  their  place. 

(3)  More  especially  we  may  affirm  that  at  the 
time  of  man’s  introduction  the  organic  world  had 
attained  to  completeness  in  regard  to  those  vege¬ 
table  productions  which  are  useful  and  beautiful. 
The  ancient  floras  of  the  older  geological  periods 
were  not  so  suited  to  human  needs,  and  they  had 
passed  away  and  had  been  replaced  by  flowering 
and  fruit-bearing  plants  pleasant  to  the  eye  and 
good  for  food. 

(4)  In  the  animal  kingdom  the  great  and  fero¬ 
cious  reptilian  monsters  of  the  Mesozoic  or  age  of 
reptiles  had  disappeared,  and  the  low  and  brutal 
mammals  of  the  earlier  Tertiary  ;  and  though  there 
still  remained  great  and  dangerous  beasts  of  prey, 
all  the  forms  of  higher  mammalian  life  which  have 
proved  most  useful  and  congenial  to  man  had  been 
introduced. 

(5)  In  these  preparations  nothing  was  done  for 
man  beyond  what,  with  due  allowance  for  the  lower 


Man  Primeval 


161 


needs  of  humbler  creatures,  had  been  done  for  pre¬ 
vious  forms  of  life ;  for  it  is  an  established  law 
that  the  physical  and  vital  developments  of  the 
world  have  gone  on  pari  passu  from  the  dawn 
of  life,  and  that  new  types  of  animals  have  not 
appeared  until  the  conditions  were  favourable  to 
them  ;  and  as  a  rule  the  occurrence  of  such  favour¬ 
able  conditions  did  not  long  continue  till  appro¬ 
priate  forms  of  life  were  introduced.  This  as  a  law 
is  altogether  independent  of  any  opinions  which 
may  be  entertained  with  reference  to  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  animals  or  the  possible  causal  relation  of 
the  environment  to  changes  in  organic  beings. 

(6)  It  is  also  a  law  of  the  succession  of  life  that 
lower  and  older  forms  of  living  beings  are  removed 
to  make  way  for  those  that  are  newer  and  higher. 
For  example  the  more  varied  and  complex  vege¬ 
tation  of  the  middle  and  later  Tertiary  could  not 
have  occupied  the  world  without  the  previous 
removal  on'n.  great  scale  of  the  more  monotonous 
and  lower  vegetation  of  earlier  periods,  nor  could 
the  mammals  of  the  Tertiary  have  co-existed  with 
the  enormous  development  of  reptilian  life  in  the 
previous  period.  This  again  is  independent  of  the 
question  whether  we  regard  the  succession  as  a 
result  of  repeated  extinctions  and  creations  or  of 
any  process  of  slow  and  gradual  development. 


162 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


It  follows  from  these  statements  that  death  and 
physical  suffering  must  have  existed  from  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  animal  life.  The  individual  must 
die.  Even  the  species  is  ultimately  mortal.  This 
is,  in  so  far  as  we  can  understand,  inseparable 
from  the  multiplication  and  succession  of  animal 
forms,  and  is  indeed  essential  to  their  continued 
and  happy  existence.  Let  it  be  observed,  how¬ 
ever,  that  in  lower  animals  coming  to  a  natural  end 
of  their  life,  the  way  is  prepared  for  dissolution  of 
the  organism  with  a  minimum  amount  of  pain  and 
without  any  of  those  aggravations  which  in  man 
arise  from  a  conscious  and  spiritual  nature.  This 
is  true,  notwithstanding  those  exceptional  cases 
which  have  been  cited  as  illustrations  of  cruelty 
in  nature.  Man  is  often  unnecessarily  cruel  in 
his  treatment  of  animals.  Nature  never  is.  Its 
apparent  cruelty  is  mercy  in  disguise.  It  is  most 
unreasonable  to  read  into  past  states  of  the  world 
and  into  the  actions  of  the  lower  animals  con¬ 
ditions  which  spring  from  the  peculiarities  of  man, 
and  from  his  special  relation  to  the  world  around 
him  and  to  a  future  life.  This  is  particularly  unfair 
on  the  part  of  those  who  would  practically  deny 
an  ethical  and  spiritual  element  in  man  himself. 
It  is  also  to  be  observed  here  that  it  is  the  con¬ 
scious  individuality  and  the  progressive  rational 


Man  Primeval 


163 


and  spiritual  nature  of  man  that  alone  warrant  the 
idea  stated  in  the  Bible  that  man  was  to  have  been 
exempted  from  the  law  of  mortality.  This,  how¬ 
ever,  is  a  subject  to  be  discussed  in  the  sequel. 

The  stress  laid  on  the  doctrines  of  natural 
selection  and  struggle  for  existence  has  of  late 
thrown  into  the  background  another  principle 
which,  because  of  this  and  of  its  vital  importance, 
requires  a  more  full  illustration  than  those  pre¬ 
viously  noticed.  This  is  the  paramount  influence 
of  facility  for  expansion  in  the  introduction  of  new 
forms  of  life.  In  point  of  fact,  it  seems  to  have 
been  this  more  than  any  other  condition  of  the 
environment  that  has  been  potent  in  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  new  species  of  living  beings  in  geological 
time,  not  as  the  primary  cause,  but  as  furnishing 
the  combinations  of  circumstances  in  which  alone 
such  introductions  are  possible.  The  continents  of 
the  earth,  or  those  portions  of  its  surface  which 
project  above  the  general  ocean  covering,  have  in 
the  main  continued  from  the  first  in  the  same 
positions.  Their  foundations,  once  laid,  have  been 
those  which  continued  to  be  built  upon.  They 
have,  however,  experienced  many  vicissitudes  in 
the  matter  of  elevation  and  depression.  At  certain 
periods  their  lower  levels  have  been  submerged 
and  then  re-elevated,  and  this  has  occurred  again 


164 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


and  again.  These  pulsations  of  the  earth’s  crust 
have  synchronized  with  the  great  changes  of  fauna 
and  flora  marking  geological  periods,  and  it  is  in 
consequence  of  them  that  so  very  great  a  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  stratified  deposits  of  the  continents  are 
proved,  by  the  fossil  remains  which  they  contain, 
to  have  been  deposited  under  the  sea.  An  ex¬ 
ample  taken  from  the  American  Continent  may 
make  this  plain.  The  great  triangular  internal 
plateau  of  North  America  between  the  Apalach- 
ians  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  has  preserved  very 
continuous  records  of  these  earth-movements.  At 
different  periods  of  geological  time,  indicated  by 
successive  beds  of  fossiliferous  limestone,  it  has 
been  a  vast  Mediterranean  Sea  extending  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  almost  to  the  Arctic  Ocean.  In 
these  times  of  submergence  any  land  animals  or 
plants  which  inhabited  it  have  been  destroyed  or 
have  had  to  take  refuge  on  the  inland  heights 
remaining  above  water,  while  the  new  inland  sea 
has  become  the  theatre  of  the  development  of 
swarms  of  marine  creatures  not  known  in  previous 
periods,  and  coming  in  to  occupy  the  new  and 
favourable  habitats  provided  for  them.  At  one 
of  these  periods  of  submergence  marked  by  the 
“  Corniferous  ”  limestone  of  the  Devonian  Period, 
nearly  two  hundred  species  of  corals,  most  of  them 


Man  Primeval 


not  previously  known,  sprang  into  existence  to 
take  advantage  of  the  facilities  offered  them. 
When  the  land  rose  again  into  the  plains  and 
swamps  of  the  Carboniferous  age,  a  crowd  of 
strange  and  previously  unknown  plants,  insects, 
land-snails  and  batrachian  reptiles  appeared  to 
take  up  the  vacant  ground.  The  testimony  of 
geology  is  that  while  compression  and  struggle 
depauperate  and  finally  kill,  elbow-room  and  free¬ 
dom  for  expansion  are  connected  with  multipli¬ 
cation  and  improvement.  The  great  physical 
changes  of  submergence  and  elevation  of  the  con¬ 
tinents  thus  constitute  veritable  epochs  in  the 
succession  of  life.  Each  new  marine  fauna  is  the 
product  of  a  time  of  extensive  submergence. 
Each  land  fauna  and  flora  belongs  to  a  time  of 
continental  elevation.  The  times  of  submergence 
are  those  of  great  extinction  of  land-life  whether 
animal  or  vegetable,  and  the  times  of  elevation  are 
marked  by  similar  fatality  to  marine  creatures. 
The  whole  may  be  stated  under  the  two  great 
laws  :  first,  that  living  creatures  are  introduced 
or  perish  in  accordance  with  great  physical  changes 
in  their  environment  ;*  secondly,  that  new  forms  of 
life  are  produced  in  the  times  and  places  favour¬ 
able  to  their  comfortable  subsistence,  multiplica¬ 
tion,  and  extension.  Such  views  as  those  above 


1 66 


Eden  Lost  and  Wo  ft 


stated  may  seem  to  some  to  tend  toward  the 
exploded  idea  of  cataclysmal  extinction  and  reno¬ 
vation.  Of  cataclysms  involving  universal  destruc¬ 
tion  of  living  creatures,  it  is  true,  we  have  no 
evidence ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  wide-spread  physical  changes,  more 
especially  of  subsidence  and  elevation,  have  been 
connected  with  the  outgoing  and  incoming  of  suc¬ 
cessive  faunas  and  floras  in  geological  time. 

These  considerations  enable  us  to  form  some  idea 
of  the  conditions  under  which  man  would  most 
probably  be  introduced  on  the  earth.  It  would 
surely  be  fair  to  suppose  that  this  last  and  crown¬ 
ing  type  of  the  animal  creation  would  be  as  well 
provided  for  as  the  swarming  lower  animals  that 
had  preceded  him.  We  might  go  farther  than 
this,  and  suppose  that  since  man  is  a  creature  not 
endowed  with  instincts  adapting  him  unfailingly 
to  his  environment,  but  requiring  to  work  out  for 
himself  by  reason,  imagination,  and  habitude  even 
the  means  of  comfortable  subsistence,  and  needing 
time  to  attain  to  this,  he  would  be  even  more 
bountifully  provided  for.  This  would  be  only 
analogous  to  the  remarkable  fact  of  the  long 
infancy  and  childhood  of  the  individual  man.  The 
species,  as  well  as  the  individual,  must  enjoy  a 
protected  childhood  to  acquire  the  knowledge  and 


Man  Primeval 


167 


the  capacity  needful  to  enable  it  to  exist  and 
assert  its  place  at  the  head  of  creation  ;  because 
deficient  in  those  natural  instincts  and  powers, 
whether  of  locomotion,  attack,  or  defence,  which 
enable  the  lower  animals  each  to  play  its  part  in 
nature  without  any  special  training. 

More  than  all  this,  man  constituted  a  new  depar¬ 
ture  in  the  progress  of  the  organic  world — the 
introduction  of  a  higher  rational  and  moral 
nature  ;  and  this  new  departure  is  marked  out  not 
merely  in  his  physical  frame  and  his  large  brain 
and  erect  position,  but  by  those  very  deficiencies 
in  swiftness  and  power  and  natural  weapons,  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  made,  and  which 
mark  him  as  the  ruler  and  friend,  not  the  enemy, 
of  the  lower  creatures. 

We  should  therefore  a  priori  expect  man  to 
appear  in  some  favoured  region  affording  supplies 
of  vegetable  food  throughout  the  year,  and  not 
requiring  protection  either  from  excessive  cold  or 
heat,  and  exempt  from  the  attacks  of  the  more 
formidable  predaceous  animals.  At  the  same  time 
there  should  be  facilities  for  extending  his  range 
as  his  numbers  increased,  and  it  might  be  expected 
that  older  forms  of  life  belonging  to  previous 
periods  and  unsuitable  for  the  new  anthropic  age 
would  be  removed  out  of  his  way.  This  would 


i68 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


only  be  in  accordance  with  the  arrangements 
which  existed  in  all  previous  cases  of  a  similar 
kind,  as  we  now  know  on  the  best  geological 
evidence.  I  may  quote  here  a  saying  of  the  late 
Hugh  Falconer,  one  of  the  ablest  of  English 
palaeontologists,  and  who  made  so  wonderful  dis¬ 
coveries  in  the  Tertiary  mammals  of  India  :  “  Here 
(in  the  newer  Miocene  era)  was  clear  evidence, 
physical  and  organic,  that  the  present  order  of 
things  had  set  in  from  a  very  remote  period  in 
India.  Every  condition  was  suited  to  the  require¬ 
ments  of  man,  the  lower  animals  which  approach 
him  nearest  in  physical  structure  were  already 
numerous  ;  and  the  wild  stocks  from  which  he 
trains  races  to  bear  his  yoke  in  domesticity  were 
established  ;  why  then,  in  the  light  of  a  natural 
inquiry,  might  not  the  human  race  have  made  its 
appearance  at  that  time  in  the  same  region.”  Here 
Falconer  recognises  what  we  may  call  the  Edenic 
conditions  for  the  appearance  of  man,  though  they 
may  perhaps  not  have  been  realized  quite  so  early 
in  geological  time  as  he  supposes.1 


1  Quarterly  Journal  Geological  Society ,  vol.  xxi.,  1865,  p. 
386.  The  occurrence  of  flints,  supposed  to  be  worked,  in 
Miocene  beds  in  Burma  has  been  reported  by  Dr.  Noetling  : 
but  Oldham  has  since  shown  that  the  evidence  of  age  is 
defective  (. Natural  Science ,  Nov.,  1894,  Sept.,  1895).  The 


Man  Primeval 


169 


Man  would  thus  appropriately  appear  not  in  a 
period  of  submergence  but  of  continental  elevation, 
in  an  age  when  a  mild  climate  existed  over  large 
portions  of  the  world,  and  when  plant  and  animal 
life  had  been  developed  in  a  high  state  of  perfec¬ 
tion.  The  Bible  idea  of  an  Edenic  plain,  watered 
by  large  rivers,  and  therefore  a  part  of  a  great  con¬ 
tinent,  in  a  temperate  latitude,  and  with  a  warm, 
dry  climate,  stocked  with  trees  and  plants  pleasant 
to  the  sight  and  good  for  food,  and  free  from  the 
more  formidable  wild  beasts,  comes  as  near  as 
possible  to  what  may  be  termed  the  natural 
requirements  of  the  case,  as  we  find  them  exempli¬ 
fied  in  the  introduction  of  the  lower  animals  which 
approach  most  nearly  to  man.1 

But  man,  as  we  know,  is  not  limited  by  un¬ 
changing  instincts.  He  has  the  capacity  to  pro¬ 


skull  and  femur  more  recently  found  by  Dr.  Dubois  in  river 
alluvium  in  Java  belong  to  a  much  more  modern  period,  and 
do  not  warrant  the  conclusions  based  on  them  as  to  a  species 
intermediate  between  men  and  apes.  Should  farther  dis¬ 
coveries  show  that  they  really  represent  a  primitive  race  of 
men,  their  characters  would  not  be  surprising,  as  we  cannot 
suppose  all  of  the  earliest  men  to  have  been  equal  in  brain 
development  to  the  antediluvian  giants  of  some  of  the  cavern 
deposits,  who  were  probably  a  hybrid  race,  and  of  excep¬ 
tional  physical  power.  (See  Nature ,  Feb.  28,  1895.) 

1  See  for  a  full  discussion  of  this  question  and  of  the  site 
of  Eden,  “  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,”  chapter  iv. 


170 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


vide  himself  with  many  appliances,  and  to  make 
up  for  his  inferiority  in  natural  tools  by  the  devices 
of  his  inventive  mind.  Therefore,  if  we  forecast 
his  history,  we  must  make  some  allowances  for 
these  peculiarities.  The  climatal  conditions  of  our 
continents  have  also  differed  in  different  periods. 
In  some  a  warm  climate  has  extended  nearly  to 
the  poles.  In  others  cold  conditions  have  pre¬ 
vailed  far  toward  the  equator.  Man  may  have 
been  introduced  in  a  period  of  exceptional  warmth, 
or  of  temperate  climate  tending  to  further  im¬ 
provement.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  prob¬ 
able  that  his  advent  should  have  occurred  in  a 
time  of  temperate  climate  tending  toward  refri¬ 
geration.  In  the  latter  case  his  possible  habitat 
would  be  limited.  In  the  former  he  would  have 
wide  scope  for  extension  without  increasing  his 
artificial  appliances.  If  he  had  to  migrate,  as 
population  increased,  into  more  severe  climates, 
or  into  regions  tenanted  by  formidable  beasts,  if 
he  had  to  destroy  or  to  tame  animals  and  to 
enter  on  laborious  cultivation,  he  must  invent 
weapons  and  implements,  provide  clothing  and 
shelter,  obtain  the  aid  of  fire,  and  in  many  other 
ways  change  his  condition.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  was  to  have  had  his  way  prepared  for  him,  as 
it  had  been  for  the  other  animals,  his  predeces- 


Man  Primeval 


171 


sors,  he  might  have  been  spared  all  this  trouble, 
though  the  work  of  ameliorating  the  world  and 
extending  his  Eden  might  have  been  slow  and 
gradual,  involving  perhaps  physical  changes  and 
the  extinction  of  some  animals,  with  the  increase 
and  migration  of  others,  suitable  to  the  com¬ 
panionship  and  service  of  man.  Even  in  this 
case,  however,  his  knowledge  and  capacities  must 
have  greatly  increased  in  process  of  time.  He 
must  have  become  acquainted  with  many  new 
and  interesting,  as  well  as  useful,  natural  facts. 
He  might,  even  if  exempt  from  the  practice  of 
arts  necessary  to  subsistence,  have  exercised  his 
inventive  powers  and  manual  dexterity  in  a  variety 
of  pleasing  ways  conducive  to  his  greater  happi¬ 
ness.  The  increase  of  men  would  have  produced 
a  variety  of  new  social  and  political  relations,  as 
well  as  need  for  facilities  of  communication,  trans¬ 
mission  of  intelligence,  preservation  of  records, 
determinations  of  time,  distance,  and  direction  ; 
and  hence  inquiry  into  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
scientific,  literary,  and  aesthetic  culture.  What  all 
this  might  have  become  in  an  unbroken  golden 
age  of  primitive  innocence,  though  we  may  infer 
somewhat  from  the  principles  already  laid  down, 
it  would  require  the  imagination  of  a  poet  gifted 
with  very  special  insight  and  knowledge  of  man 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


1 72 


and  nature  to  conceive  fully.  We  may,  however, 
readily  fancy  that  it  would  have  been  something 
very  different  from  the  actual  history  of  humanity. 

That  such  extension  and  improvement  of  man 
in  his  primitive  state  of  innocence  is  implied  in 
the  Bible,  we  learn  from  the  statement  that  he 
was  not  only  to  serve  and  to  care  for  his  garden, 
but  also  to  increase  and  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth,  and  to  subdue  or  bring  it  into  subjec¬ 
tion  ;  as  well  as  from  the  mention  of  gold,  pearls 
and  stones  for  implements  or  ornaments  (gold, 
bedolach,  and  shoham  stone)  in  connection  with 
one  of  the  rivers  of  Eden.1 

If  we  ask  in  what  precise  geological  period  the 
conditions  necessary  to  the  advent  of  man  actually 
occurred  in  any  part  of  the  world,  geology  informs 
us  that  this  could  not  have  been  till  the  later 
part  of  the  Miocene  Tertiary,  and  in  the  warm 
temperate  zone,  as  suggested  in  the  above  extract 
from  Falconer.  Possibly  this  time  is  too  early, 
for  all  the  known  species  of  Miocene  mammals 
are  now  extinct,  so  that  if  man,  or  any  similar 
being  existed  then,  we  might  suppose  the  species 
to  have  perished  and  to  have  been  replaced  by 
another.  Further,  the  succeeding  Pliocene,  though 
a  time  of  continental  elevation,  was  also  one  of 


1  See  for  the  meaning  of  this  the  work  cited  in  last  note. 


Man  Primeval 


1 73 


vast  aqueous  erosion  and  of  gigantic  volcanic 
eruptions  and  earth-movements,  which  could  not 
fail  to  have  been  injurious  or  locally  destructive 
to  men  had  they  been  numerous  at  that  time. 
The  next  age  also,  that  of  the  Pleistocene,  was 
one  of  unusually  frigid  climate,  and  also  of  great 
local  vicissitudes,  a  glacial  age  in  short,  most  un¬ 
favourable  to  human  interests.  Thus  the  earliest 
time  in  which  the  required  conditions  can  be  cer¬ 
tainly  assumed  would  be  the  post-glacial  conti¬ 
nental  period,  which  is  that  in  which  we  actually 
find  the  earliest  certain  remains  of  men,  and  the 
date  of  which  does  not  conflict  with  the  ordinarily 
received  data  of  human  chronology,  and  does  not 
justify  those  exaggerated  estimates  of  some  geo¬ 
logists  as  to  the  antiquity  of  man,  which  are  now 
apparently  also  contradicted  by  the  probable  date 
of  the  later  Tertiary  or  Quaternary  deposits. 

It  now  remains  for  us  to  inquire  whether  any¬ 
thing  occurred  to  interrupt  the  normal  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  human  species  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  above  stated,  and  what  testimony  we 
have  in  Bible  history  or  in  nature  of  such  an 
occurrence  as  the  “  fall  of  man.”  This  we  may 
take  up  under  the  next  head,  in  the  first  place 
from  the  Biblical  or  historical  standpoint,  and 
then  in  the  light  of  our  knowledge  of  early  man 


174 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


from  his  actual  remains  in  the  superficial  deposits 
referred  to  under  a  previous  heading.  These 
remains,  imperfect  though  they  are,  we  have  al¬ 
ready  seen,  are  sufficient  to  give  much  information 
respecting  the  races  of  antediluvian  men,  and  their 
condition  in  at  least  certain  portions  of  the  world, 
as  terms  of  comparison  with  the  Biblical  record  of 
the  Edenic  age  and  the  Fall. 


IX 

THE  FALL  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES 


175 


IX 


THE  FALL  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES 
NDER  the  previous  head  we  have  considered 


^  the  natural  conditions  implied  in  the  Edenic 
state  of  man,  and  the  possibility  that  under  favour¬ 
able  circumstances  he  might  have  increased  and 
multiplied  and  replenished  the  earth  as  a  harmless 
and  innocent  being.  We  have  also  noticed  the 
remarkable  coincidence  between  the  probable  con¬ 
dition  and  environment  of  primitive  man  as  inferred 
from  geological  facts  and  the  statements  of  the 
early  chapters  of  Genesis.  That  something  inter¬ 
fered  to  prevent  his  development  into  a  high  and 
holy  being,  a  fit  ruler  and  head  of  creation,  and 
reduced  him  to  that  savage  and  cruel  condition 
in  which  we  find  him  as  evidenced  by  his  remains 
in  the  caves  and  gravels,  we  too  surely  know  ;  but 
geology  is  silent  as  to  the  disturbing  cause,  and 
here  therefore  we  may  turn  to  the  written  record 
and  enquire  what  light  it  throws  on  this  difficult 
subject. 

The  Book  of  Genesis  presents  man  to  us  as 


177 


12 


i78 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


having  intercourse  with  his  Maker — such  inter¬ 
course  as  our  little  ones  still  have  when  they 
startle  us  with  their  realistic  utterances  as  to 
things  to  us  unseen,  or  only  dimly  visible  to  faith, 
except  when  they  shine  before  us  in  dreams  and 
visions  of  the  night,  or  in  conditions  of  body  when 
we  have  nearly  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil.  We 
need  not  doubt  this,  however  difficult  it  may  be  for 
us  to  think  of  men  communing  with  God  in  the 
rustling  of  the  evening  breeze.  It  is  what  must 
have  been  in  the  first  waking  to  consciousness  of  a 
rational  being  gifted  with  that  higher  spiritual  life 
which,  despite  the  absence  of  all  the  appliances  of 
what  we  call  civilization,  placed  him  on  a  higher 
plane  than  that  of  the  mere  worldly  man  of  later 
times,  however  far  advanced  in  the  arts  of  life. 
He  is  also  in  a  state  of  probation.  There  is  one 
tree  of  the  garden  of  which  he  must  not  eat — one 
poisonous  and  even  deadly  fruit.  He  is  like  a 
child  turned  loose  in  a  garden  with  permission  to 
eat  every  fruit  but  one,  because  that  is  poisonous. 
Whatever  profound  questions  as  to  the  origin  of 
evil  or  human  responsibility  may  gather  around 
this  prohibition,  it  represents  a  condition  of  exis¬ 
tence  everywhere  and  always  in  force  ;  for  where 
are  there  not  scattered  around  our  paths,  in  all 
climates  and  states,  fruits  good  for  food,  and  others 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  179 


that  are  unwholesome  and  dangerous  ?  It  is  the 
one  conceivable  limitation  of  human  freedom  in 
the  Edenic  state,  and  at  the  same  time  one  that 
without  any  warning  or  command  must  have 
existed  as  a  natural  fact,  so  soon  as  man  emerged 
from  Eden. 

Thus  the  religion  of  Adam  and  Eve  consisted  of 
a  communion  with  God  and  an  understood  pro¬ 
hibition  which  was  also  a  warning  against  injury. 
This  was  the  primitive  embryo  of  religion  in  un¬ 
fallen  man.  It  does  not  follow,  as  some  now 
appear  to  hold,  that  it  will  serve  equally  for  man 
in  his  present  state.  Had  man  adhered  to  this 
religion,  however,  it  admitted  of  a  development  up 
to  the  intellectual  and  moral  level  of  that  of  un¬ 
fallen  angels. 

The  disturbing  element  which  deprives  man  of 
this  covenant  is  the  serpent,  and  no  explanation  is 
at  first  given  as  to  the  serpent  being  the  agent  of  a 
malignant  spirit.  This  could  not  be  known  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  primitive  pair.  He  is  merely 
indicated  as  being  the  most  subtle  of  the  animals — - 
more  insidious  (naked)  than  any  other.  Naturally, 
the  gliding,  noiseless  progression  and  the  ability 
to  execute  all  kinds  of  movements  without  limbs, 
have  impressed  this  idea  on  man  everywhere,  and 
have  given  the  serpent  a  large  place  in  myths  and 


i8o 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


superstitions,  which  may  however  be  secondarily 
derived  from  his  role  as  the  tempter,  for  which 
these  properties  so  well  fit  the  animal.  I  may 
remark  here  that  other  peculiarities  of  the  serpent 
are  also  referred  to  in  the  curse  pronounced  on 
him  after  the  Fall.  He  is  to  go  on  his  belly  and 
eat  dust.  The  serpent  when  about  to  strike  coils 
his  body  and  erects  his  head.  When  he  fails  or 
becomes  afraid,  he  lowers  himself  abjectly  and 
sneaks  away  with  his  head  close  to  the  ground. 
These  natural  attitudes  are  those  referred  to  in 
the  curse,  and  they  for  the  first  time  suggest  to  us 
that  the  serpent  here  is  the  agent  of  an  evil  power 
of  whom  he  becomes  the  symbol,  and  who  is  bold 
and  aggressive  in  his  temptation  of  Eve,  but 
destined  subsequently  to  occupy  an  abject  and 
hateful  position  in  relation  to  man,  and  especially 
to  the  promised  seed  of  the  woman  who  is  to  crush 
his  head. 

The  temptation  presented  to  Eve  is  addressed 
to  her  ambitious  longing  for  higher  knowledge  and 
power — a  longing  intended  to  be  gratified  in  the 
gradual  development  of  man  from  stage  to  stage  of 
Divine  culture,  but  not  to  be  prematurely  satiated 
by  snatching  the  forbidden  fruit.  Whether  or  not 
the  fruit  was  one  having  in  itself  a  poisonous  or 
intoxicating  property,  as  some  have  supposed,  it 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  1 8 1 


had  the  immediate  effect  of  opening  their  eyes,  and 
the  perception  to  which  they  attain  is  one  of  sexual 
shame  or  modesty,  the  knowledge  of  nakedness  and 
the  desire  for  clothing.  This  might  lead  to  many 
curious  ethnological  inquiries.  I  shall  mention 
here  merely  the  fact  that  while  the  skeletons 
of  prehistoric  men  in  bone-caves,  give  evidence 
of  the  wearing  both  of  clothes  and  ornaments, 
the  tracings  of  the  human  figure  which  have  been 
found  in  such  caverns,  are,  so  far  as  known,  nude. 
In  other  words,  the  co-existence  of  clothing  on  the 
actual  human  figure,  along  with  nudity  on  sculp¬ 
tured  representations  belongs  to  the  earliest  times, 
and  hints  to  us  the  fact  that  man  originally  had  no 
clothing  and  no  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  his  want 
of  it.  This  may  also  be  connected  with  the  nude 
representations  of  gods  and  goddesses,  some  of 
whom  were  often  deified  ancestors  connected  with 
the  tradition  of  a  golden  age. 

Up  to  this  point  the  simplicity  and  naturalness 
and  primitive  character  of  the  whole  story  in 
Genesis  are  most  evident.  Let  us  now  turn  to 
the  alleged  consequences  of  the  Fall  in  relation  to 
natural  facts. 

If,  as  already  explained,  we  are  to  understand 
by  Eden  the  “  Centre  of  Creation  ”  prepared  for 
man,  or  the  environment  suited  to  a  creature  so 


I  8  2 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


constituted,  in  which  all  external  conditions  were 
favourable  to  his  happy  existence,  the  expulsion 
from  that  special  district,  by  whatever  means 
effected,  must  have  been  a  great  and  real  calam¬ 
ity.  It  was  exile  from  the  surroundings  and 
natural  productions  necessary  to  a  happy  life.  It 
was  throwing  man  into  a  struggle  for  existence 
under  unfavourable  conditions,  and  exposing  him 
to  labours,  dangers,  and  sufferings  before  un¬ 
known. 

To  nature  in  general  it  was  also  a  grievous  loss. 
Had  man  continued  in  his  Edenic  state,  the  con¬ 
ditions  and  the  animal  species  of  his  new  vital 
centre  might  have  extended  themselves  widely 
over  the  continents,  in  a  manner  similar  to  that 
which  seems  to  have  occurred  in  the  introduction 
of  other  types  in  previous  periods.  Under  his 
new  circumstances,  if  he  is  to  maintain  his 
dominion  and  even  his  existence,  he  must  declare 
war  against  the  other  parts  of  organic  nature, 
must  invent  weapons  of  destruction,  and  by  virtue 
of  his  higher  mental  powers  must  become  the 
tyrant  of  the  world,  more  dreaded  than  any  wild 
beast.  He  must  also  interfere  with  the  true 
balance  of  animals  and  plants,  and  so  introduce 
confusion,  and  deform  the  fair  face  of  Nature  by 
his  arts  and  inventions.  Nature  must  henceforth 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  183 


suffer  many  injuries  from  the  destructive  domi¬ 
nance  of  man. 

The  sentence  of  death  passed  upon  man  implies 
that  he  was  originally  free  from  the  general  doom 
of  living  beings.  Whether  this  was  to  have  been 
by  a  repeated  rejuvenescence  or  renewal  of  youth, 
by  a  mere  interchange  of  new  tissues  for  those 
become  effete,  by  a  transition  from  the  natural  or 
psychic  body  to  the  spiritual  body  promised  in  the 
New  Testament  at  the  resurrection,  or  in  some 
other  way,  we  are  not  informed  ;  but  there  are 
different  ways  in  which  such  immunity  could  be 
secured,  and,  as  previously  stated,  it  would  be  an 
appropriate  endowment  of  man’s  higher  nature 
and  instinctive  desire  for  immortality.  Now  he 
falls  under  the  general  law,  and  though  his  life 
may  at  first  be  very  protracted,  he  must  surely 
die.  In  experiencing  this  fate,  in  so  far  as  his 
physical  frame  was  concerned,  he  but  returns  to 
dust  out  of  which  he  was  taken,  but  in  so  far  as 
his  spiritual  nature  is  concerned,  he  retains  that 
belief  in  a  future  existence,  that  universal  instinct 
of  immortality,  which  is  perhaps  the  best  natural 
evidence  of  his  original  unending  life.  It  is  cer¬ 
tainly  as  easy  and  natural  to  believe  in  man’s 
primitive  immortality  as  to  believe  in  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  of  the  dead  body,  so  constantly  maintained 
by  J  esus  Christ  and  by  Paul. 


184 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


The  penalty  of  death  is  not  to  be  immediately 
exacted,  except  in  its  shadow  cast  over  the  whole 
life  of  man ;  and  hope  of  a  final  though  distant 
restoration  is  held  out  to  him  ;  but  in  the  mean¬ 
time  the  ground  on  which  he  treads  and  out  of 
which  he  is  to  obtain  food,  is  cursed  for  his  sake. 
Judging  from  subsequent  references,  this  would 
imply  want  of  such  permanent  fertility  as  that 
secured  to  Eden  by  its  irrigating  streams,  entailing 
much  tillage  and  labour ; 1  and  as  in  the  case  of 
the  woe  denounced  on  Cain,  this  infertility  in  some 
cases  extending  to  absolute  barrenness.2  There 
would  seem  also  to  have  been  a  progressive 
deterioration,  perhaps  in  climate  as  well  as  soil,  for 
Lamech,  the  father  of  Noah,  at  the  close  of  the 
antediluvian  period  is  represented  as  speaking  of 
it  as  an  increasing  evil  in  his  time.3  On  the  other 
hand  the  blessing  to  Noah  after  the  flood  seems  to 
refer  to  a  partial  removal  of  the  curse,  and  from 
the  terms  of  the  promise  to  Noah,  it  would  also 
appear  that  after  the  flood  there  was  some  restora¬ 
tion  of  fertility  and  amelioration  of  climate.4  We 
have  already  seen  that  if  we  identify  the  ante¬ 
diluvian  age  with  that  of  the  men  of  the  Palan- 
thropic  or  “  Palseolithic  ”  caves  and  gravels,  it  is 


1  Gen.  iii.  17.  2  Gen.  iv.  12.  3  Gen.  v.  29.  4  Gen.  viii.  22. 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  185 


proved  by  geological  facts  that  they  suffered  not 
merely  from  a  retarded  development  of  the 
organic  world,  but  a  gradual  deterioration  of 
climate  ;  so  that  before  the  occurrence  of  the  great 
diluvial  catastrophe  which  closed  that  period,  there 
was  much  difficulty  in  finding  means  of  subsist¬ 
ence,  and  many  tribes  of  men  had  to  resort  to  the 
rudest  kind  of  hunting  life,  leading  probably  to 
much  barbarism  and  violence. 

We  are  further  told  in  Genesis  that  when  men 
resorted  to  tillage  and  subsisted  on  the  “  herb  of 
the  field,”  their  work  would  be  obstructed  by 
“  thorns  and  thistles.”  This  may  appear  to  some 
a  trifling  penalty,  but  it  would  not  seem  such  to 
one  familiar  with  the  number  and  troublesome 
nature  of  thorny  and  prickly  plants  in  some  parts 
of  the  world,  or  with  the  devastation  which  the 
thistle  and  its  allies  have  worked  on  some  of  the 
finest  plains  on  the  earth.  Like  man,  the  great 
family  of  the  Composite,  so  prolific  of  trouble¬ 
some  weeds,  and  including  the  thistles  and  their 
allies,  was  a  new  thing  on  the  earth,  and  may  not 
have  found  its  way  at  all  into  the  Edenic  Garden.1 


1  We  know  of  no  Composite  until  the  Tertiary  age, 
except  uncertain  fragments.  The  family  seems  to  be  a  new 
one,  scarcely  older  than  man  himself,  but  gifted  with 
remarkable  powers  of  extension. 


i86 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


It  includes  some  showy  plants,  but  many  that 
annoy  man  so  soon  as  he  becomes  a  cultivator 
or  even  a  shepherd.  In  our  own  time  we  have 
seen  the  thistles  and  their  allies  pursuing  men 
in  their  new  American  and  Australian  homes, 
following  them  to  the  remotest  districts,  and 
molesting  them  in  all  their  attempts  at  pasturage 
and  culture.  It  is  singular  how  many  things  the 
author  of  Genesis  knew  which  until  the  other  day 
were  not  dreamt  of  in  our  philosophy. 

The  special  penalty  denounced  on  woman  is  one 
of  the  saddest  parts  of  the  Fall.  Sorrow  in  that 
which  was  a  part  of  the  original  blessing,  and  is 
the  happiness  of  other  living  beings,  in  that  child¬ 
bearing  which  in  Eden  would  have  been  a  chief 
joy  and  the  means  of  replenishing  the  earth  with 
a  holy  and  happy  race,  was  now  in  the  fallen  state 
to  be  hers,  along  with  that  inevitable  submission 
to  marital  despotism  which,  especially  in  all 
primitive  and  rude  states  of  society,  falls  to  the 
lot  of  the  weaker  partner  burdened  with  the  cares 
and  toils  of  maternity. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  Assyrian  legends  of  Creation  and  the 
Flood,  which  have  come  down  to  our  time.  These 
are  regarded  with  respect  by  many  who  decline  to 
admit  the  antiquity  and  genuineness  of  the  records 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  187 


in  Genesis,  and  who  wrrite  as  if  the  Hebrews  had 
been  indebted  to  a  “  Babylonian  element  ”  in  com¬ 
posing  the  Pentateuch  ;  whereas  it  is  evident  that 
the  Chaldean  myths  are  related  to  the  Bible  only  in 
the  way  in  which  an  historical  novel  is  related  to 
authentic  history.  Any  intelligent  reader  who  will 
consult  Maspero’s  recent  work  on  “  The  Dawn  of 
Civilization/’1  cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  Baby¬ 
lonian  legends  have  been  amplified  in  a  wildly 
imaginative  and  even  childish  manner  in  the 
interest  of  priestly  and  idolatrous  influences,  and 
could  not  have  afforded  the  material  of  the  prosaic 
narrative  of  Genesis.  They  show  that  the  early 
Chaldean  scribes  had  access  to  some  of  the 
materials  possessed  by  the  author  of  Genesis,  and 
illustrate  the  difference  between  poetical  myths 
and  inspired  history — but  nothing  more. 

The  more  we  ponder  on  the  few  but  graphic 
touches  of  the  primitive  painter  of  Eden  and  the 
Fall,  the  more  must  we  recognise  their  truth  to 
nature  and  the  certainty  that  they  must  truly 
represent  the  experience  of  the  earliest  human 
beings,  and  the  reason  of  that  degraded  condition 
in  which  we  find  the  oldest  tribes  of  men  yet 
known  to  us.  Before  going  farther,  however,  there 


1  “  Les  Origines,”  translated  by  Sayce. 


1 88 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


are  a  few  details  of  the  old  story  in  Genesis  which 
may  merit  a  short  consideration,  in  addition  to 
that  which  we  have  given  to  the  main  features 
of  the  narrative.  Was  the  tree  of  life  an  actual 
tree,  or  kind  of  tree,  seen  by  primitive  man  ? 
This,  I  think,  we  can  scarcely  doubt,  though  the 
study  of  ancient  mythology  shows  us  that  in 
different  times  and  countries  it  may  have  been 
represented  by  different  species,  as  the  palm,  the 
banyan,  the  persea,  the  oak,  or  even  the  mistletoe. 1 
Had  it  any  natural  power  to  cure  disease  or  injury, 
or  to  prolong  life  ?  Were  its  leaves  literally  “  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations  ”  ?2  This  we  cannot 
know,  unless  we  could  find  means  to  identify  the 
species.  It  may  have  been  merely  a  symbol  or 
pledge  of  the  immortality  promised  to  man, 
though  the  words  of  the  record  would  seem  rather 
to  imply  a  physical  property.  What  were  the 
cherubim  and  flaming  sword  which  prevented 
access  to  it  ?  The  former  are  represented  to  us 
not  only  in  the  Bible  but  in  the  pictured  and 
sculptured  symbolism  of  all  the  old  idolatries,  as 
animals  or  complex  monsters  compounded  of 
animal  forms,  sometimes  with  the  human  head 


1  In  Chaldea,  India,  Egypt,  Greece  and  Western  Europe 

respectively.  2  Rev.  xxii.  2. 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  189 


superadded.  Naturally  interpreted,  and  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  later  mythological  and  Biblical  ideas, 
this  might  mean  primarily  the  irruption  of  formid¬ 
able  beasts  into  Eden  to  replace  man  ;  and  its  later 
symbolic  use  may  refer  to  the  injury  inflicted  on 
creation  by  the  Fall,  and  that  restoration  of  free¬ 
dom  and  progress  predicted  by  Paul  in  a  passage 
to  be  referred  to  in  the  sequel.  In  this  case  the 
heavenly  “  animals  ”  or  living  creatures  of  Revela¬ 
tion  chapters  iv.  and  v.  may  be  representatives  of 
the  redemption  of  the  creation  as  associated  with 
that  of  man.  These  living  creatures,  respectively 
like  a  lion,  a  calf,  a  sphinx  with  human  head,  and 
an  eagle,  when  first  introduced  to  the  seer,  are 
engaged  in  praising  God  as  the  Creator  of  all 
things,  and  when  “  every  created  thing  ”  in  the 
atmosphere,  the  land  and  the  sea,  ascribes  honour 
and  glory  and  blessing  to  God  and  to  the  Re¬ 
deemer  in  anticipation  of  the  revelation  of  God’s 
purposes  in  the  roll  with  seven  seals,  the  four 
cherubim  or  living  creatures  say  “  Amen.” 

As  symbols  therefore  throughout  the  Bible  and 
in  the  ancient  idolatries,  we  may  regard  the 
cherubim  as  representing  the  copartnership  of 
animated  nature  with  man  in  his  fall  and  final 
restoration — a  great  and  glorious  doctrine  deserv¬ 
ing  of  more  attention  than  it  receives,  more 


190 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


especially  in  relation  to  our  duties  toward  the 
lower  animals.  But  this  is  too  large  a  subject  and 
too  frequently  referred  to  in  the  Bible  to  be  dis¬ 
cussed  here,  except  to  say  that  the  Bible,  while  it 
lends  no  countenance  to  the  doctrine  of  human 
descent  from  animals,  or  to  idolatrous  veneration 
for  them,  fully  recognises  our  relations  to  them, 
God’s  care  of  and  for  them,  and  our  duty  of  mercy 
to  them. 

The  flaming  sword,  if  we  are  to  take  Isaiah’s 
description  of  the  Sword  of  Jehovah,1  or  Ezekiel’s 
of  the  fire  accompanying  his  cherubim  2  as  referring 
to  it,  must  have  been  some  bituminous,  electric,  or 
volcanic  fire  or  eruption  striking  terror  into  the 
human  spectators.  The  symbolism  in  both  cases 
would  be  the  sympathy  of  nature  with  man  in  his 
fall,  like  the  earthquake  and  eclipse  at  the  death  of 
Christ,  or  the  rejoicing  of  nature  in  the  revelation 
of  the  sons  of  God  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Apoca¬ 
lypse.  The  immediate  object  is  stated  to  have 
been  the  exclusion  of  man  for  the  time  from  his 
lost  paradise. 


1  Chap,  xxxiv.  5  and  9-10. 

2  Chap.  i.  13.  I  suppose  Ezekiel’s  vision  of  cherubim  to 
be  a  vivid  representation  of  God’s  power  and  energy  in  nature, 
and  in  the  affairs  of  men,  even  when  they  are  in  rebellion 
against  Him. 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  19 1 


For  our  present  purpose  all  these  features  of  the 
narrative  in  Genesis  serve  to  emphasize  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  the  present  relations  of  man  to  other 
parts  of  nature  are  not  normal,  or  in  accordance 
with  the  usual  arrangements  of  the  Creator  in  the 
introduction  of  new  types,  or  with  the  position  of 
man  as  the  culmination  of  the  animal  kingdom 
and  the  introducer  of  a  higher  type  of  rational 
existence.  Consequently,  that  any  system  of 
theology  or  philosophy,  which  takes  it  for  granted 
that  the  present  condition  of  the  world  is  merely 
“  a  natural  result  of  its  whole  previous  develop¬ 
ment,”  or  that  “  no  important  change  took  place  at 
the  time  of  man’s  first  transgression,”  must  neces¬ 
sarily  lead  to  false  conclusions. 

We  may,  it  is  true,  admit  that  in  a  certain  sense 
the  present  state  of  things  is  a  result  of  the  pre¬ 
vious  development  from  the  beginning,  and  that 
the  fall  itself  must  have  entered  into  the  original 
plan  of  the  Creator  as  an  episode  in  that  develop¬ 
ment.  Yet  the  introduction  of  man  was  in  itself 
a  new  feature,  and  one  implying  the  risk  that  any 
false  step  taken  by  a  free  rational  agent  might 
produce  an  effectual  and  perhaps  ever-increasing 
derangement  of  the  whole  course  of  organic  nature, 
not  to  be  inferred  at  all  from  its  previous  ten¬ 
dencies.  Paul  grasps  this  fully  when  he  says, 


192 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


“the  creation  was  made  subject  to  vanity,”  that  is 
to  failure  or  unprofitableness.  Ellicott  and  Mac¬ 
donald  have  also  seized  the  significance  of  this 
possibility,  but  it  has  been  missed  by  the  greater 
part  of  modern  commentators  and  philosophers. 
It  is,  in  short,  an  inevitable  conclusion  of  science 
that,  when  a  rational  and  moral  being  has  been 
introduced  into  the  world  with  power  to  assume 
mastery  over  it,  and  with  capacity  for  multiplica¬ 
tion  and  extension,  any  aberration  on  his  part 
must  subvert  the  ordinary  operation  of  natural 
laws,  and  interrupt  the  progress  of  nature.  Even 
evolutionists  like  Mivart  and  Wallace  have  per¬ 
ceived  this,  and  have  taken  some  account  of  it. 
It  was  also  well  known  to  naturalists  in  what  have 
been  called  “pre-Darwinian”  days,  before  the 
whirl  of  the  evolutionary  cyclone  had  carried  so 
many  naturalists  off  their  feet.  In  i860,  in  my 
work  entitled  “  Archaia,”  I  discussed  this  subject 
and  continued  its  consideration  in  “  The  Origin  of 
the  World,”  published  in  1877.  The  conclusion  had 
then  been  fully  established  by  geology,  that  the 
introduction  of  a  rational  and  inventive  being, 
unarmed,  unclothed,  and  subsisting  on  the  spon¬ 
taneous  productions  of  nature,  must  mark  a  new 
departure,  and  require  important  changes  in  the 
progress  of  the  world,  and  that  the  conversion 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  193 


of  man  into  a  savage  creature,  inventing  weapons 
of  destruction,  would  necessarily  introduce  the 
most  serious  disturbances.  In  studying  the  sub¬ 
ject,  however,  at  that  time  I  was  not  aware  of  cer¬ 
tain  important  facts  discovered  later,  such  as  the 
following— (1)  The  deterioration  of  climate  in  the 
Northern  Hemisphere  which  occurred  in  the  early 
human  period.  (2)  The  probable  identity  of  the 
so-called  “  Palaeolithic  ”  men  of  Europe  with  the 
Antediluvians,  and  of  the  catastrophe  which  swept 
them  away  with  the  historical  deluge.  (3)  The 
magnitude  of  the  geographical  and  vital  changes 
connected  with  the  diluvial  catastrophe.  Wanting 
these  important  data,  the  following  sentences 
express  the  conclusions  attainable  at  that  time. 

“  1.  Every  large  region  of  the  earth  is  inhabited 
by  a  group  of  animals,  differing  in  the  proportions 
of  identical  species,  and  in  the  presence  of  distinct 
species  from  the  groups  inhabiting  other  districts. 
There  is  also  sufficient  reason  to  conclude  that  all 
animals  and  plants  have  spread  from  certain  local 
centres,  in  which  groups  of  species  have  been 
produced  and  allowed  to  extend  themselves,  until 
they  met  and  became  intermingled  with  species 
extending  from  other  centres.  Now,  the  district 
of  Asia,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris,  to  which  the  Bible  assigns  the  origin  of  the 

13 


194 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


human  race,  is  the  centre  to  which  we  can,  with 
the  greatest  probability,  trace  several  of  the  species 
of  animals  and  plants  most  useful  to  man,  and  lies 
near  the  confines  of  warmer  and  colder  regions  of 
distribution  in  the  Old  World,  and  also  near  the 
boundary  of  the  Asiatic  and  European  regions. 
At  the  period  under  consideration  it  may  have 
been  peopled  with  a  group  of  animals  especially 
suited  to  association  with  the  progenitors  of  man¬ 
kind.  2.  To  remove  all  zoological  difficulties  from 
the  position  of  primeval  man  in  his  state  of  inno¬ 
cence,  we  have  but  to  suppose,  in  accordance  with 
all  the  probabilities  of  the  case,  that  man  was 
created  along  with  a  group  of  creatures  adapted  to 
contribute  to  his  happiness,  and  having  no  tendency 
to  injure  or  annoy ;  and  that  it  is  the  formation  of 
these  creatures — the  group  of  his  own  centre  of 
creation — that  is  especially  noticed  in  Genesis  ii.  19 
et  seq.,  where  God  is  represented  as  forming  them 
out  of  the  ground  and  exhibiting  them  to  Adam. 
3.  The  difficulty  attending  the  early  extension  of 
the  human  race  is  at  once  obviated  by  the  geo¬ 
logical  doctrine  of  the  extinction  of  species.  We 
know  that  in  past  geological  periods  large  and 
important  groups  of  species  have  become  extinct, 
and  have  been  replaced  by  new  groups  extending 
from  new  centres  ;  and  we  know  that  this  process 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  195 


has  removed,  in  early  geological  periods,  many 
creatures  that  would  have  been  highly  injurious 
to  human  interests  had  they  remained.  Now  the 
group  of  species  created  with  man,  being  the  latest 
introduced,  we  may  infer,  on  geological  grounds, 
that  it  would  have  extended  itself  within  the 
spheres  of  older  zoological  and  botanical  districts, 
and  would  have  replaced  their  species,  which,  in 
the  ordinary  operation  of  natural  laws,  may  have 
been  verging  towards  extinction.  Thus,  not  only 
man,  but  the  Eden  in  which  he  dwelt  with  all 
its  animals  and  plants,  would  have  gradually 
encroached  on  the  surrounding  wilderness,  until 
man’s  happy  and  peaceful  reign  had  replaced  that 
of  the  ferocious  beasts  that  preceded  him  in 
dominion,  and  had  extended  at  least  over  all  the 
temperate  region  of  the  earth.  4.  The  cursing  of 
the  ground  for  man’s  sake,  on  his  fall  from  inno¬ 
cence,  would  thus  consist  in  the  permission  given 
to  the  predaceous  animals  and  the  thorns  and  the 
thistles  of  other  centres  of  creation  to  invade  his 
Eden  ;  or,  in  his  own  expulsion,  to  contend  with 
the  animals  and  plants  which  were  intended  to 
have  given  way  and  become  extinct  before  him. 
Thus  the  fall  of  man  would  produce  an  arrest  in 
the  progress  of  the  earth  in  that  last  great  revolu¬ 
tion  which  would  have  converted  it  into  an  Eden  ; 


196 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


and  the  anomalies  of  its  present  state  consist  in  a 
mixture  of  the  conditions  of  the  Tertiary  with 
those  of  the  human  period.  5.  Though  there  is 
good  ground  for  believing  that  man  was  to  have 
been  exempted  from  the  general  law  of  mortality, 
we  cannot  infer  that  any  such  exemption  would 
have  been  enjoyed  by  his  companion  animals  ;  we 
only  know  that  he  himself  would  have  been  free 
from  all  annoyance  and  injury  and  decay  from 
external  causes.  We  may  also  conclude  that,  while 
Eden  was  sufficient  for  his  habitation,  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  earth  would  continue,  just  as  in  the 
earlier  Tertiary  periods,  under  the  dominion  of  the 
predaceous  mammals,  reptiles  and  birds.  6.  The 
above  views  enable  us  on  the  one  hand  to  avoid  the 
difficulties  that  attend  the  admission  of  predaceous 
animals  into  Eden,  and  on  the  other  the  still  more 
formidable  difficulties  that  attend  the  attempt  to 
exclude  them  altogether  from  the  Adamic  world. 
They  also  illustrate  the  geological  fact,  that  many 
animals,  contemporaneous  with  man,  extend  far 
back  into  the  Tertiary  period.  These  are  creatures 
not  belonging  to  the  Edenic  centre  of  creation,  but 
introduced  in  an  earlier  part  of  the  sixth  creative 
day,  and  now  permitted  to  exist  along  with  man 
in  his  fallen  state.  I  have  stated  these  supposed 
conditions  of  the  Adamic  creation  briefly,  and  with 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  197 


as  little  illustration  as  possible,  that  they  may 
connectedly  strike  the  mind  of  the  reader.  Each 
of  these  statements  is  in  harmony  with  the  narra¬ 
tive  in  Genesis  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  geology 
on  the  other ;  and,  taken  together,  they  afford  an 
intelligible  history  of  the  introduction  of  man.  If 
a  geologist  were  to  state,  a  priori ,  the  conditions 
proper  to  the  creation  of  any  important  species,  he 
could  only  say — the  preparation  or  selection  of 
some  region  of  the  earth  for  it,  and  its  produc¬ 
tion  along  with  a  group  of  plants  and  animals 
suited  to  it.  These  are  precisely  the  conditions 
implied  in  the  Scriptural  account  of  the  creation  of 
Adam.  The  difficulties  of  the  subject  have  arisen 
from  supposing,  contrary  to  the  narrative  itself, 
that  the  conditions  necessary  for  Eden  must  in  the 
first  instance  have  extended  over  the  whole  earth, 
and  that  the  creatures  with  which  man  is  in  his 
present  dispersion  brought  into  contact  must 
necessarily  have  been  his  companions  there.” 

I  have  quoted  the  above  as  legitimate  con¬ 
clusions  of  science  attained  thirty-five  years  ago, 
and  which  have  not  been  affected  even  by  the 
current  theories  of  evolution,  except  in  so  far  as 
these  occupy  the  entirely  irrational  ground  of 
agnostic  causelessness.  When,  therefore,  we  find 
the  earliest  men  known  to  us,  to  have  been 


198 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


barbarous  hunters  and  manslayers,  at  war  with 
nature  and  with  one  another,  and  out  of  harmon¬ 
ious  relations  with  their  environment,  we  may 
be  sure  from  the  deductions  of  geological  and 
archaeological  science  that  there  has  been  “  a  fall 
of  man.” 

There  is,  it  is  true,  a  modern  philosophy  which 
delights  in  exaggerating  the  present  incongruity 
between  man  and  nature,  and  deducing  from  this 
a  denial  of  divine  and  benevolent  purpose  in 
creation ;  I  may  quote  an  illustration  from  a  recent 
paper  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.1 

“But  the  anthropocentric  view  does  not  appear 
acceptable  to  one  who  contemplates  things  with¬ 
out  foregone  conclusions.  When  he  learns  that 
millions  upon  millions  of  years  passed  during 
which  the  earth  was  peopled  only  by  inferior 
brutes,  and  that  even  now  three-fifths  of  its 
surface  are  occupied  by  an  ocean  basin  carpeted 
with  low  creatures  which  live  in  darkness,  utterly 
useless  to  man  and  only  lately  known  to  him  ; 
and  when  he  learns  that  of  the  remaining  two- 
fifths,  vast  Arctic  and  Antarctic  regions  and  vast 
desert  areas  are  practically  uninhabitable,  while 
immense  portions  of  the  remainder,  fever-breeding 


1  Fortnightly  Review ,  June,  1895. 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  199 


and  swarming  with  insect  pests,  are  unfit  for 
comfortable  existence,  he  does  not  recognise  much 
adjustment  to  the  wants  of  mankind.  When  he 
discovers  that  the  human  body  is  the  habitat  of 
thirty  different  species  of  parasites,  which  inflict 
in  many  cases  great  tortures  ;  or,  still  worse,  when 
he  thinks  of  the  numerous  kinds  of  microbes,  some 
producing  ever-present  diseases  and  consequent 
mortality,  and  others  producing  frightful  epidemics, 
like  the  plague  and  the  black  death,  carrying  off 
hundreds  of  thousands  or  millions,  he  sees  little 
ground  for  assuming  that  the  order  of  Nature  is 
devised  to  suit  our  needs  and  satisfactions.  The 
truth  which  the  facts  force  upon  him  is  not  that 
the  surrounding  world  has  been  arranged  to  fit  the 
physical  nature  of  man,  but  that,  conversely,  the 
physical  nature  of  man  has  been  moulded  to  fit 
the  surrounding  world  ;  and  that,  by  implication, 
the  theory  of  things,  justified  by  the  evidence, 
may  not  be  one  which  satisfies  men’s  moral  needs 
and  yields  them  emotional  satisfactions,  but,  con¬ 
versely,  is  most  likely  one  to  which  they  have  to 
mould  their  mental  wants  as  well  as  they  can.” 

It  must  be  evident  to  common  sense,  that  such 
a  jaundiced  view  of  nature  is  unfair  both  as  as¬ 
suming  that  man  is  injured  by  the  long  pre¬ 
paration  of  the  earth  for  him,  and  by  his  inability 


200 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


to  inhabit  the  desert  or  the  sea  bottom  ;  and  as 
neglecting  to  notice  the  evils  which  arise  from 
human  misconduct ;  but  in  so  far  as  there  is  any 
truth  in  the  picture,  it  should  at  least  excite  the 
suspicion  that  some  disturbing  cause  due  to  man 
himself,  has  intervened  to  mar  that  equilibrium 
which  on  the  view  even  of  the  agnostic  should 
have  long  ago  resulted  from  the  interaction  of 
natural  energies,  even  without  the  agency  of  an 
all-wise  and  benevolent  Creator. 

We  should  not,  however,  omit  to  notice  that 
according  both  to  geological  science  and  to  Bible 
history,  there  may  have  been  some  mitigation  of 
the  cursing  of  the  ground  after  the  Deluge.  The 
great  diluvial  catastrophe  which  separates  Palan- 
thropic  from  Neanthropic  man,1  which  we  can  now 
identify  with  the  historical  deluge,  greatly  altered 
the  physical  geography  of  the  Northern  Hemi¬ 
sphere,  and  destroyed  or  expelled  from  its 
temperate  regions  many  species  of  animals,  while 
the  climatal  conditions  of  the  previous  period 
were  somewhat  ameliorated  and  the  diminished 
size  of  the  continents  gave  greater  facilities  for 
the  dispersion  of  men,  and  for  maritime  inter- 


1  See  “  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,”  chap.  iv. ;  and 
“  Meeting-place  of  Geology  and  History.” 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  201 


course.  So  in  the  patriarchal  record  we  find  the 
promise  to  Noah  that  man  will  no  more  be  de¬ 
stroyed  by  a  diluvial  catastrophe,  that  the  cursing 
of  the  ground  will  in  some  degree  be  removed, 
and  that  seedtime  and  harvest  will  not  fail.  These 
improved  conditions,  however,  fell  far  short  of  re¬ 
storing  the  Edenic  happiness,  and  left  untouched 
all  that  part  of  the  curse  of  nature  which  depends 
on  the  tyranny  and  misconduct  of  man  himself. 
This,  I  apprehend,  is  implied  in  the  singular  rea¬ 
son  that  the  alleviation  is  not  given  because  the 
survivors  of  the  Deluge  have  returned  to  Edenic 
innocence,  but,  on  the  contrary,  because  the  taint 
of  the  Fall  still  clings  to  them,  because  “  the  heart 
of  man  is  evil  from  his  youth,”  and  therefore  they 
cannot  help  being  out  of  harmony  with  nature,  but 
they  are  allowed  to  enter  on  the  new  age  with  im¬ 
proved  conditions.1 

It  results  from  this,  however,  that  the  most 
important  part  of  the  remaining  curse  is  that 
which  arises  from  the  voluntary  action  of  man 
himself.  He  continues  to  be  the  antagonist  and 
destroyer  of  the  lower  animals,  the  deformer  of  the 
fair  face  of  nature.  He  pursues  to  extinction  the 
animals  which  he  hunts  for  his  profit  or  his 


1  See  Genesis  viii.  20,  etc. 


202 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


pleasure.  He  takes  away  the  food  and  shelter  of 
other  creatures  and  so  causes  them  to  perish.  He 
disfigures  with  his  so-called  improvements  great 
spaces  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  He  interferes 
with  the  nice  balance  of  animated  nature  es¬ 
tablished  of  old,  and  has.  introduced  struggle, 
anarchy,  violence  and  misrule.  Farther,  by  his 
exhaustive  cropping  he  has  reduced  vast  areas  of 
the  earth’s  surface  to  barrenness.  These  de¬ 
structive  changes  have  already  spread  over  much 
of  the  habitable  land  and  are  rapidly  extending 
themselves  ;  and  when  he  carries  his  innovations 
to  the  extreme  we  find  a  “  Black-country,”  a 
pandemonium  of  fire  and  machinery  overhung 
with  a  canopy  of  smoke,  under  which  thousands 
toil,  deprived  of  the  most  ordinary  requirements 
of  health  and  happiness,  and  whence  all  creatures 
save  man  and  the  beasts  he  has  enslaved  are 
excluded.  Finally,  we  already  hear  the  prediction 
that  the  culmination  of  applied  science  will  be  the 
discovery  of  means  to  provide  artificially  from 
their  elements  the  food-substances  necessary  for 
human  subsistence  ;  and  then  the  world,  or  large 
portions  of  it,  might  be  converted  into  a  great 
congeries  of  factories,  without  a  tree  or  a  green 
field  or  any  of  the  higher  forms  of  animal  life,  and 
in  which  millions  of  men,  cooped  up  in  dense 


The  Fall  and  its  Consequences  203 


communities,  might  grind  out  painfully  the  means 
of  supporting  a  life  deprived  of  the  charm  of 
everything  that  God  has  made  for  human  enjoy¬ 
ment.  This  travesty  of  the  New  Jerusalem  is 
that  to  which  many  eager  minds  are  bending  all 
their  energies,  and  hoping  some  day  to  accomplish. 
It  remains  to  enquire  if  God  has  not  provided 
some  better  way  to  remedy  the  Fall  of  Man. 


X 

THE  RESTORATION 


205 


X 


THE  RESTORATION 


HE  calamities  produced  by  the  Fall  are  not 


irretrievable.  Man  had  been  defeated  in  his 
first  encounter  with  the  serpent ;  but  the  fight  was 
to  be  continued.  The  enemy  would  have  to  adopt 
new,  base,  and  insidious  tactics,  his  head  in  the 
dust  ;  and,  finally,  a  descendant  of  the  beguiled 
woman  will,  though  not  without  conflict  and 
wounding,  bruise  his  head.  This  protevangel, 
which  is  the  key-note  of  the  whole  Bible,  and 
the  commission  of  the  Saviour  Himself,  extends 
through  the  writings  of  prophets  and  psalmists 
down  to  the  triumphant  songs  of  the  Apocalypse. 
For  a  time,  however,  little  is  said  of  the  share  of 
the  lower  creation,  either  in  the  defeat  or  the 
triumph.  One  note  is  struck  in  the  blessing  on 
Noah  after  the  flood,  referred  to  in  the  last  article, 
which  announces  a  removal  of  the  curse,  except 
that  part  of  it  which  proceeds  from  “  the  evil 
imagination  of  man’s  heart.”  Here  and  there  the 


207 


208 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


subject  is  referred  to  in  the  Book  of  Job,  in  the 
Psalms,  in  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel,  and  more  fully 
in  the  remarkable  passage  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  Isaiah,  which  paints  peace  among  the  lower 
animals  and  a  little  child  as  leading  them.  The 
cherubic  figures  also  continued  to  testify  through 
all  this  time  to  the  share  of  the  lower  creation  in 
the  benefit  of  man’s  redemption.  It  will  be  better, 
however,  for  our  present  purposes  not  to  dwell  on 
these  passages,  and  to  go  on  at  once  to  the 
wonderful  view  of  the  relation  of  nature  and  man 
contained  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Paul’s  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
central  and  crowning  testimony  on  the  subject. 
Paul  was  not  merely  an  Apostle  commissioned  to 
preach  to  man  the  Gospel  of  salvation  ;  he  was  a 
scholar  saturated  with  the  Old  Testament  literature, 
and  fully  alive  to  the  aspects  of  nature  and  of  man 
viewed  from  the  broadest  and  most  philosophical 
standpoint.  All  these  stores  of  knowledge  and 
culture  he  was  inspired  to  bring  to  bear  on  this 
difficult  subject,  and  to  draw  from  it  truth  useful 
to  every  Christian.  The  kernel  of  the  passage 
reads  as  follows  in  the  revised  version  :  “For  the 
earnest  expectation  (outstretched  neck)  of  the 
creation  waiteth  for  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of 
God,  for  the  creation  was  subjected  to  vanity 


The  Restoration 


209 


(failure)  not  of  its  own  will,  but  by  reason  of  him 
who  subjected  it ;  in  hope  that  the  creation  itself 
also  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  cor¬ 
ruption  (decay)  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of 
the  children  of  God.  For  we  know  that  the  whole 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
(with  us)  even  until  now.” 

The  setting  of  this  passage  shows  us  the  pur¬ 
pose  for  which  it  was  introduced.  The  time  was 
one  of  suffering  for  Christians,  but  this  suffering 
leads  to  a  future  of  incomparable  glory.  Nor  are 
Christians  to  be  alone  in  this  glory.  All  nature, 
doomed  to  “  vanity  ”  and  “  corruption  ”  by  man’s 
fall,  is  to  be  emancipated  from  this  painful  dis¬ 
ability  in  his  restoration,  and  this  is  linked  with 
the  fact  that  in  man  himself,  not  merely  the  soul 
and  spirit,  but  the  body  also  is  to  be  redeemed. 
This  accords  with  Paul’s  reasoning  elsewhere  as  to 
the  first  and  second  Adam,1  with  the  prediction 
of  Peter  as  to  a  new  heaven  and  new  earth,2  and 
with  the  glowing  pictures  of  restoration  of  Eden 
as  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  Apocalypse.3  The 
germ  of  the  same  doctrine  we,  no  doubt,  also  have 
in  the  teaching  of  Christ.4 


2  2  Pet.  iii. 

4  Matt.  xxii.  29. 

14 


1  1  Cor.  xv.  20,  et  seq. 

3  Rev.  xxi. 


2  10 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


Let  us  now  examine  more  closely  the  testimony 
of  St  Paul.  It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  the 
many  and  often  grotesque  notions  which  have 
been  held  respecting  the  word  “  creation  ”  (/ct lctis). 
Many  of  these  arise  from  entire  failure  to  appreci¬ 
ate  the  fact  that  the  Apostle  is  dealing  not  with 
man  alone,  but  with  nature  as  a  whole.  The  word 
can  mean  nothing  less  than  all  created  things, 
especially  when  it  has  prefixed  to  it  the  adjective 
“whole” — “the  whole  creation.”1  More  especially, 
no  doubt,  he  refers  to  the  animal  creation  as  that 
which  can  best  express  its  sufferings  ;  but  there  is 
a  sense  also  in  which  vegetation  and  even  inani¬ 
mate  things  can  mutely  complain  of  the  wrong 
done  them,  or  rejoice  in  the  favour  of  God  and 
give  glory  to  Him.2  May  we  not,  therefore,  sup¬ 
pose  that  to  thoughtful  and  inspired  men,  and  to 
God  Himself,  creation  has  been  all  along  lament¬ 
ing  its  losses  by  the  Fall  ? 

This  creation,  then,  is  represented  as  “  waiting 
with  outstretched  neck,”  or  “  groaning  and  travail¬ 
ing  in  pain.”  The  pain  is  not,  however,  that  of 
dissolution,  but  that  of  birth,  a  very  expressive 
figure,  pointing  to  that  failure  of  fulfilment  of 


1  See  also  verse  29  of  the  same  chapter. 

2  Isa.  xxiv.  4,  et  seq.j  Ps.  xix.  1  cxlvi.  1. 


The  Restoration 


2 1 1 


promise  and  progress  to  which  the  world  was 
doomed  by  the  fall  of  man.  It  is  as  if  at  the 
introduction  of  man  the  creation  had  come  to  the 
birth  of  a  glorious  new  era,  but  its  parturition  was 
arrested  by  the  Fall,  and  it  continues  in  travail 
until  now,  and  must  so  continue  until  the  revealing 
of  the  sons  of  God.  Thus  there  is  no  pessimism 
in  Paul’s  view.  The  travailing  of  creation  is  but 
an  episode,  a  long  delayed  birth-pang  in  the  great 
programme  of  God’s  creation,  which  extends  from 
the  first  introduction  of  life  to  the  final  consumma¬ 
tion.  All  through  the  geological  ages  there  had 
been  more  or  less  of  suffering  and  death,  but  these 
were  in  the  interest  of  the  greater  happiness  of  the 
greater  number,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  onward 
progress  of  the  whole.  So  even  the  aggravated 
sufferings  of  the  lower  creatures,  by  the  sin  of  man, 
are  the  travail-pains  of  a  new  birth.  Our  sufferings 
also  look  toward  the  glory  following,  and  our 
groans  are  the  impatient  longings  for  a  promised 
redemption.  The  practical  lesson,  therefore,  to  us 
is  not  one  of  despair,  but  of  faith  and  hope. 

The  “  vanity  ”  to  which  nature  has  been  sub¬ 
jected  by  man’s  sin  is  literally  failure  or  unprofit¬ 
ableness,  a  falling  short  of  its  purpose,  just  as  in 
the  case  of  a  plant  which  puts  forth  its  leaves  but 
withers  away  before  producing  its  flowers  and  fruit, 


212 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


and  finally  falls  into  “  corruption  ”  or  decay,  with¬ 
out  fulfilling  the  main  purpose  of  its  existence. 
Nature  was  subjected  to  this  “vanity,”  not  by  any 
fault  of  its  own,  but  “  because  of  him  who  sub¬ 
jected  it,”  that  new  head  of  creation  who,  failing 
in  his  obligations  to  God,  fell  from  his  first  estate 
and  was  the  cause  of  putting  back  the  clock  of  the 
world  by  a  whole  age.  Creation  suffers  in  some 
sense  even  more  severely  than  man,  as  the  soldiers 
of  an  army  may  suffer  more  severely  than  the 
leader  who,  by  folly  or  wickedness,  has  subjected 
them  to  danger  and  defeat.  The  animal  creation 
more  particularly  suffers,  not  only  directly,  but 
indirectly,  through  the  tyranny  and  cruelty  of 
man  himself.  It  cannot,  like  man,  have  a  promise 
and  a  hope,  nor  can  it  have  the  support  of  the 
indwelling  Spirit  to  sustain  it,  nor  can  it  experi¬ 
ence  the  higher  benefits  of  redemption,  for  it  has 
not  the  immortal  life  and  individuality  of  man  ; 
and  its  past  generations  have  all  fallen  in  the 
wilderness  ;  only  the  final  survivors  can  share  the 
liberty  of  the  restoration.  This  distinction  Paul 
expresses  by  speaking  of  nature  as  a  whole,  not  as 
individuals,  and  by  characterizing  its  deliverance 
as  one  from  bondage  into  the  liberty  which  it  will 
attain  when  the  children  of  God,  as  individual 
heirs  of  glory,  shall  attain  to  their  inheritance. 


The  Restoration 


21 3 


I  am  aware  that  the  belief  that  some  animals 
may  share  in  eternal  life  has  not  been  without 
able  advocates.1  But  there  seems  to  be  no  good 
scriptural  evidence  for  it,  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  think  that  the  intelligence  of  these  animals 
goes  beyond  the  requirements  of  their  present  life  ; 
even  in  the  case  of  man,  only  his  spiritual  life 
allies  him  with  the  unseen  world.  The  things 
that  are  seen  are  temporal,  and  left  behind  here, 
just  as  much  as  our  worldly  goods — mere  “wood, 
hay,  stubble,”  to  be  consumed  by  the  final  confla¬ 
gration.  If  we  imagine  a  man  dead  to  God  and 
eternal  things,  with  his  whole  mind  engrossed  in 
earthly  affairs,  we  know  that  he  would  be  in¬ 
capable  of  entering  into  eternal  life.  He  could 
have  nothing  to  take  into  it,  any  more  than  one  of 
the  lower  animals,  though  unlike  the  animals  he 
would  have  the  actual  guilt  of  moral  depravity  and 
of  rejecting  God’s  offer  of  salvation.  In  St.  Paul’s 
view,  only  those  who  are  “  led  by  the  Spirit  ”  can 
be  “sons  of  God  ”  and  “joint  heirs  with  Christ.”2 

If  we  look  carefully  into  our  Lord’s  personal 
teaching,  we  shall  see  that  it  is  these  negative 


1  See  an  Essay  by  Frances  Power  Cobbe,  on  the  Future 
of  the  Lower  Animals. 

2  Romans  viii.  14,  etc. 


214 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


qualities,  want  of  faith  and  of  spiritual  life,  that 
are  chiefly  insisted  on  as  disqualifying  men  for  a 
future  happy  existence,  and  exposing  them  to  the 
penalties  of  eternal  death.  If  it  is  possible  that 
there  are  men  destitute  of  the  germs  of  eternal 
life,  a  fortiori  the  lower  animals  must  be  in  this 
case,  though  not  deserving  of  any  actual  punish¬ 
ment,  because  having  no  moral  responsibility, 
Questions  of  this  kind  were  raised  in  opposition 
to  our  Lord’s  teaching  by  the  Sadducees,  and  it 
is  instructive  to  notice  how  He  met  them.  They 
held  that  the  doctrines  of  the  resurrection  and 
future  state  are  not  taught  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  that  the  former  is  physically  impossible.  Jesus 
replies  that  they  did  not  understand  their  own 
Scriptures,  and  cites  a  case  in  point  from  the  Book 
of  Exodus  ;  and  that  they  were  equally  ignorant 
of  what  God  can  do  :  “  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the 
Scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God.”  In  the  same 
connection,  and  as  if  opening  incidentally  to  us 
the  doors  of  the  world  to  come,  He  adds,  “  They 
who  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to  attain  to  that 
world  (age)  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  neither 
can  they  die  any  more,  for  they  are  equal  to  the 
angels,  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the 
children  of  the  resurrection.”  These  are  weighty 


The  Restoration 


2I5 


words,  coming  to  us  direct  from  the  heavenly 
world,  and  they  include  the  substance  of  all  the 
apostolic  teaching  respecting  salvation  and  con¬ 
demnation,  and  the  reality  of  the  coming  revela¬ 
tion  of  the  sons  of  God.  The  Sadducees  on  this 
occasion  drew  from  Christ  a  revelation  which, 
whether  profitable  to  them  or  not,  is  most  precious 
to  us  in  relation  to  the  conditions  of  paradise 
regained. 

We  may  close  this  little  digression  with  the 
thought,  that  if  the  lower  animals  are  unable  to 
share  with  us  the  glories  of  immortality,  this  gives 
us  all  the  more  reason  to  render  their  lives  happy 
in  the  sphere  to  which  they  are  limited,  and 
renders  us  all  the  more  inexcusable  for  any 
unnecessary  cruelty  to  them. 

Just  as,  after  the  Deluge,  there  was  some  miti¬ 
gation  of  the  original  curse,  so  now,  under  the 
Christian  dispensation,  there  must  be  some  allevia¬ 
tion  of  the  woes  of  creation  in  so  far  as  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  regulates  the  actions  of  men.  “  The 
merciful  man  is  merciful  to  his  beast,”  and  an 
enlightened  Christianity  must  necessarily  have 
respect  for  those  humbler  creatures  which  have 
been  subjected  to  failure  not  willingly,  but  by  our 
fault.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  this  great 
duty,  so  manifestly  pointed  out  in  the  Bible,  is  as 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


216 


yet  too  little  before  the  minds  of  the  children  of 
God,  who  should  in  this  be  like  their  Father  in 
Heaven,  who  cares  for  all  the  works  of  His  hands. 
Its  full  attainment  is  to  come  at  the  revealing  of 
the  sons  of  God  ;  and  of  this  Christ  speaks  as 
identical  with  His  own  second  coming,  that  age  in 
which  men  die  no  more,  but  are  as  the  angels,  and 
are  manifested  as  “  the  sons  of  God,  being  sons  of 
the  Resurrection.”  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
say  to  readers  of  the  New  Testament  that  this 
identity  of  the  coming  of  Christ  and  the  revealing 
of  His  people  runs  through  all  the  apostolic 
writings.  A  good  example  is  the  statement  of 
Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  that  “  when 
Christ  who  is  our  Life  shall  be  manifested,  then 
shall  ye  also  be  manifested  with  Him  in  glory.” 
In  the  passage  now  in  question  Paul  defines  (verse 
14)  the  sons  of  God  to  be  those  who  are  “led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,”  and  the  creation  waits  for  the 
“  revealing  ”  of  these,  now  in  obscurity  and  even 
in  suffering  ;  and  this  revealing  he  connects  with 
the  “  redemption  of  the  body,”  or  the  resurrection 
and  new  spiritual  body  of  which  he  has  written  to 
the  Corinthians.1  When  this  happy  time  comes, 
when  death,  the  last  enemy  as  well  as  the  first, 


1  1  Cor.  xv.  44. 


The  Restoration 


2 1 7 

has  been  finally  overcome  by  Christ  “  who  is  our 
Life,”  then  will  the  whole  creation,  wrecked  by 
Adam’s  fall,  “  itself  also  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory 
of  the  sons  of  God.”  It  seems  further  evident 
that  this  can  be  nothing  else  than  the  new  heaven 
and  new  earth  predicted  by  Peter,1  and  the  New 
Jerusalem  of  John,  in  which  there  is  “no  more 
curse.” 

It  is  now  pertinent  to  our  present  purpose  to 
enquire  a  little  as  to  these  foreviews  in  their 
relation  to  the  Fall  and  to  the  promise  of  restora¬ 
tion.  John,  in  the  Apocalypse,  bases  his  predic¬ 
tions  of  the  final  glory  on  the  conditions  of  Eden 
and  the  Fall.  In  an  anticipatory  note  of  triumph 
in  the  earlier  part  of  his  book  2  he  informs  us  : — 

“  Every  created  thing  which  is  in  the  heaven, 
and  in  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  on  the 
sea,  and  all  things  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying  : 
Unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  unto  the 
Lamb  be  blessing  and  honour  and  glory  and 
dominion  for  ever  and  ever.” 

To  this  the  four  living  creatures  or  cherubim 
say  “  Amen,”  thus  showing,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  that,  whatever  their  nature  and  significance 


1  2  Peter  iii.  13. 


2  Chap.  v.  13. 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


218 


in  Eden,  they  are  here  heavenly  representatives  of 
creation  redeemed.  Thus  we  have  presented  to 
us  the  cherubim  which  guarded  the  Tree  of  Life 
in  a  new  relation  to  paradise  regained.  The 
flaming  sword  on  the  other  hand  does  not  appear, 
unless  it  is  represented  by  the  lake  of  fire  which  is 
in  contrast  with  the  new  heaven  and  earth.  In 
like  manner  the  golden  streets,  the  pearly  gates, 
and  the  walls  of  precious  stones  in  the  New 
Jerusalem,  represent  the  gold,  bedolach,  and 
shoham  stone  carefully  and  laboriously  collected 
by  primitive  man  in  one  of  the  rivers  of  Eden.1 * 
The  Tree  of  Life  becomes  a  grove  of  trees,  no 
longer  inaccessible  to  man,  and  the  streams  of 
Eden  are  represented  by  “  a  river  of  water  of  life.” 
It  is  in  consistency  with  this  adoption  of  the 
imagery  of  Eden  that  there  shall  be  “  no  more 
pain  or  death,”  that  “all  things  are  made  new,” 
and  that  “  there  shall  be  no  more  curse.”  The 
change  from  a  garden  to  a  city  would  seem  to 
intimate  that  all  that  is  good  and  that  deserves 
continuance  in  the  civilization  of  fallen  man  shall 
be  preserved,  unalloyed  with  evil,  in  his  new  and 
renovated  world,  while  man  shall  no  longer  be  the 


1  See  my  work,  “  Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,’5  and 

paper  in  a  previous  volume  of  the  Expositor . 


The  Restoration 


219 

foe  and  tyrant  of  creation,  and  the  living  things 
which  remain  as  the  result  of  God’s  creative  selec¬ 
tion  from  all  that  He  has  made,  shall  be  delivered 
from  failure  and  decay  ;  though  in  what  way  this 
can  be  accomplished  we  do  not  understand,  and  it 
would  serve  no  good  purpose  to  hazard  conjectural 
explanations. 

This  raises  the  great  question — Is  it  the  same 
earth  in  which  we  now  live  that  is  to  experience 
this  glorious  change  and  to  be  the  abode  of  the 
redeemed  ?  In  so  far  as  the  New  Testament  Is 
concerned,  the  best  answer  is  probably  to  be 
obtained  from  that  remarkable  passage  in  the 
second  Epistle  of  Peter,  in  which  the  Deluge  and 
the  final  catastrophe  of  the  present  world  are 
placed  in  juxtaposition.1  With  reference  to  the 
flood,  Peter  says  that  “  the  earth,  compacted 
(standing  together)  out  of  water  and  by  means  of 
water,  being  overflowed  with  water,  perished,”  in 
so  far  as  its  “  kosmos  ”  or  arrangement  was  con¬ 
cerned.  This  clear  description  of  a  physical  fact 
warrants  us  in  attaching  a  like  physical  meaning 
to  the  succeeding  statement  that  fire  is  being 
“stored  up”  for  a  new  and  different  destruction, 
which  will  result  in  a  greater  change  than  that 


1  2  Peter,  chap.  iii. 


220 


Eden  Lost  and  Won 


effected  by  the  flood,  or  in  the  production  of  a 
new  heaven  and  new  earth,  not  merely  a  new 
kosmos.1 

In  his  excellent  articles,  in  recent  numbers  of 
the  Expositor,  on  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
Prof.  Agar  Beet  refers  to  the  physical  possibility  of 
the  earth  becoming  naturally  dried  up  and  lifeless 
as  a  prelude  to  a  new  era  ;  but  this  would  require 
an  immense  lapse  of  time,  and  would  scarcely 
agree  with  Peter’s  foreview  of  a  fiery  destruction. 
There  are  two  other  ways  in  which  such  a  change 
might  be  effected  under  the  operation  of  ordinary 
physical  laws,  and  of  which  we  know  something, 
because  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  have 
actually  occurred  in  past  time.  The  first  is  the 
impact  of  some  solid  body  rushing  toward  the  sun 
by  the  force  of  gravitation  and  striking  the  earth 
on  its  way.  Such  a  collision  might  reduce  the 
earth  to  a  liquid  or  even  vaporous  condition,  or, 
if  less  violent,  might  so  affect  its  interior  as  to 
produce  stupendous  changes  on  its  surface.  It 
would,  however,  require  a  long  time  to  restore  the 
earth  to  a  habitable  condition  after  such  an  event. 


1  The  words  yrj,  Ko<Tfj.o$,  olKovfxevrj,  and  alcov  indifferently 
translated  “  world  ”  in  the  Old  English  version,  are  used 
with  strict  scientific  accuracy  in  the  New  Testament. 


The  Restoration 


22  1 


But  without  any  such  foreign  disturbing  cause,  the 
earth’s  crust  might  collapse  and  might  be  violently 
ridged  up,  with  great  extrusion  of  molten  matter 
on  its  surface  and  of  dust  into  its  atmosphere, 
and  wholesale  destruction  of  man  and  his  works. 
Such  a  catastrophe  is  known  to  have  occurred  at 
the  close  of  the  great  Palaeozoic  period  in  the 
Permian  and  Triassic  ages,  and  on  a  smaller  scale 
in  the  Pleiocene  Tertiary  age.  Such  changes 
might  be  of  comparatively  short  duration,1  but 
would  as  effectually  destroy  the  present  kosmos, 
or  order  of  things,  as  the  deluge  destroyed  that  of 
the  antediluvian  time.  The  occurrence  of  such  a 
catastrophe  would,  physically  considered,  be  no 
more  a  miracle  than  an  earthquake  or  a  volcanic 
eruption,  events  which,  on  a  small  scale,  resemble 
extensive  cosmic  revolutions  which  have  again  and 
again  in  the  course  of  geological  time  interrupted 
those  slow  and  gradual  changes  which,  because 
they  have  produced  the  greater  part  of  the  strati¬ 
fied  rocks,  bulk  more  largely  in  the  eyes  of  geo¬ 
logists  than  those  more  rapid  critical  changes 
which  occur  only  at  long  intervals. 


1  There  are  the  strongest  physical  reasons  to  believe  that 
the  great  crumplings  of  the  earth’s  crust  and  extrusions  of 
molten  rock  accompanying  and  following  them  were  par¬ 
oxysmal. 


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The  times  of  these  great  cosmic  changes  are 
known  to  the  Creator,  and  may  be  regulated  by 
Him  in  harmony  with  the  requirements  of  His 
moral  government,  but  they  cannot  be  calculated 
by  us.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  a  great 
critical  change  must  at  some  time,  near  or  remote, 
close  the  era  of  comparative  uniformity  in  which 
we  live,  and  that  such  a  cataclysm  is  plainly  fore¬ 
shown  in  New  Testament  prophecy.  Nor  can  we 
suppose  when  we  read  such  passages  as  that  above 
quoted  from  St.  Peter1  that  these  anticipations  are 
altogether  symbolic,  or  that  they  are  intended  to 
relate  to  any  other  earth  than  that  which  we  now 
inhabit. 

Allow  me  to  draw  a  geological  picture  illustra¬ 
tive  of  these  possibilities.  Let  us  suppose,  for 
example,  that  a  visitor  from  some  other  sphere  has 
examined  our  continents  in  the  great  Carboniferous 
age,  when  our  coal-beds  were  in  process  of  forma¬ 
tion  in  vast  swampy  flats  under  an  equable  climate, 
by  the  growth  of  trees  quite  different  from  those 
now  existing.  These  forests  would  have,  of  course, 
seemed  to  him  primeval  and  permanent,  and  he 

1  Peter’s  argument  against  the  “  wilful  ignorance  of  those 
who  hold  that  all  things  will  continue  as  they  are,  is  a  strictly 
geological  one,  based  legitimately  on  physical  facts.  2  Peter 
iii.  5. 


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223 


would  see  no  sign  of  change.  But  had  he  returned 
a  little  later,  he  would  have  witnessed  the  rolling 
up  of  these  flat  coal-deposits  into  high  mountains, 
amid  great  displays  of  internal  igneous  force  ;  and 
when  this  time  of  trouble  was  over,  he  would  find 
a  new  kosmos,  with  new  species  of  trees  and  of 
land  animals,  a  different  geography,  and  a  different 
climate.  Still  later,  and  after  a  great  and  long- 
continued  submergence  of  the  continents  under  the 
sea  of  the  Chalk  period,  he  would,  on  another  visit, 
have  beheld  a  new  fauna  of  mammalian  animals, 
and  again  a  quite  different  vegetation,  while  he 
would  have  witnessed  the  wondrous  spectacle  of  a 
climate  so  mild  that  fruits  of  kinds  now  limited  to 
warm  temperate  latitudes  would  ripen  within  the 
Arctic  circle.  Later  still,  all  this  beauty  would 
seem  to  be  forever  wiped  out  by  the  cold  and  sub¬ 
mergence  of  the  glacial  period,  which,  however, 
was  but  a  long  winter  to  be  followed  by  the  genial 
spring  of  the  post-glacial  in  which  man  appeared. 
If  God  has  done  such  things  in  carrying  out  His 
long  programme  of  the  world’s  history,  and  if  man 
has  already  witnessed  one  great  and  destructive 
change  followed  by  a  renewed  world,  may  there 
not  be  similar  and  possibly  still  greater  changes 
in  store  for  the  earth  ?  These  vicissitudes,  it  is 
true,  occupied  long  time ;  but  there  are  some 


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Eden  Lost  and  Won 


indications  that  they  have  been  more  rapid  in 
later  than  in  earlier  times.  After  the  considerable 
period  of  quiescence  since  man  came  on  the  earth, 
we  may  be  nearing  another  great  critical  period, 
for  which  the  forces  have  been  long  accumulating, 
and  which  may  reach  their  culminating  point  at 
any  time,  though  the  times  and  seasons  of  such 
events  are  quite  beyond  our  calculation.  There  is, 
therefore,  nothing  unreasonable  in  Peter’s  idea  of 
the  “  storing  up  ”  of  fire  for  such  an  event,  and  his 
foreview  of  this  may  be  as  much  in  accordance 
with  natural  facts  as  the  admirable  sketch  of  the 
Deluge  with  which  he  prefaces  it. 

One  great  difference,  however,  meets  us  here,  in 
the  share  which  man  and  other  creatures  may 
have  in  the  coming  geologic  age.  Whereas  in 
previous  ages  animal  species  became  extinct,  and 
were  replaced  by  others,  in  the  coming  age,  while 
this  may  still  apply  to  the  lower  animals,  it  will 
not  hold  good  of  man,  who,  as  a  spiritual  and 
immortal  being,  must  preserve  his  individuality, 
and  thus  the  same  men  will  re-appear,  albeit  in  a 
glorified  state,  in  the  new  earth  for  which  we  look. 
Thus,  while  all  that  can  be  said  of  the  lower 
animals  is  that  those  creatures  which  became 
extinct  “furnish  the  stock  of  their  successors,”1 — 


1  Zittel,  “  Palaeontologie.” 


The  Restoration 


225 


perhaps  more  literally  the  “  types  ”  of  their  suc¬ 
cessors, — man  passes  on  individually  from  the 
present  to  the  future  stage.  The  further  question 
as  to  how  he  is  to  be  preserved  through  the  fiery 
ordeal  of  the  perishing  world,  and  in  what  body  he 
shall  come,  is  beyond  the  domain  of  natural  facts 
as  at  present  known.  Thus  if  the  consideration  of 
past  geological  ages  might  induce  us  to  look  for¬ 
ward  with  dread  to  future  and  mighty  convulsions 
such  as  those  which  have  decimated  the  earth’s 
living  inhabitants  in  former  times,  revelation 
teaches  us  to  hope  for  a  new  and  better  life  in  a 
renovated  world.  Paul  says  of  it,  “  The  sufferings 
of  the  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be  compared 
to  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  to  us-ward,”  and 
speaks  of  our  religion  as  animated  by  the  hope  of 
that  new  and  yet  unseen  world.  Peter,  in  like 
manner,  says  to  us  :  “  Seeing  that  we  look  for 
these  things,  give  diligence  that  we  may  be  found 
without  spot  and  blameless  in  His  sight.”  John, 
looking  to  the  manifestation  of  Christ,  exclaims, 
“  Every  one  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth 
himself,  even  as  He  is  pure.”  Christ  Himself 
strikes  the  key-note  of  all  this  in  His  frequent 
references  to  His  second  coming ;  and  in  the  last 
chapter  of  the  Apocalypse  He  is  represented  as 
grasping  the  whole  of  the  present  and  the  coming 


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Eden  Lost  and  Won 


age  in  the  significant  proclamation  :  “  I  am  the 
First  and  the  Last,  the  Beginning  and  the  End. 
Blessed  are  they  that  wash  their  robes,  that  they 
may  have  the  right  to  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  may 
enter  in  by  the  gates  into  the  city.”  Here  we 
have  the  Divine  unity  of  nature  and  of  grace,  of 
the  beginnings  of  humanity,  and  the  final  revela¬ 
tion  of  the  sons  of  God  and  restitution  of  all  things  ; 
and  all  this  in  the  Redeemer  and  His  second 
coming  and  glorious  kingdom  : 

“Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus.” 


Butler  &  Tanner,  The  Selwood  Printing  Works,  Frome,  and  London 


